Cell Signaling News and Research

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Cell signaling is vital for cells to communicate and coordinate their activities, not just in the human body, but in all organisms. There are thousands of signaling pathways, ranging from protein homeostasis to carcinogenesis and biofilm formation.

Pediatric Cell Atlas needed for better understanding of children’s health and illnesses

Research efforts to comprehensively map adult human cells are in progress. But in a Perspective publishing March 28 in the journal Developmental Cell, researchers argue that there is a need to map children’s cells with the same level of granularity.

29 Mar 2019

Study finds novel opportunity for treating subgroup of cancer patients with MSI-H tumors

Researchers have identified a protein critical for the survival of a particular type of tumor cell, according to a study published today in eLife.

27 Mar 2019

VCU researchers home in on microRNA processing for new cancer therapies

More than a decade of research on the mda-7/IL-24 gene has shown that it helps to suppress a majority of cancer types, and now scientists are focusing on how the gene drives this process by influencing microRNAs.

26 Mar 2019

Nervous system relies on guidance cues for neuronal axons to reach destinations

Similar to the dozens of Sherpas that guide hikers up treacherous Himalayan mountains to reach a summit, the nervous system relies on elaborate timing and location of guidance cues for neuronal axons--threadlike projections--to successfully reach their destinations in the body.

25 Mar 2019

Lian wins ENGINE grant for stem-cell-based therapy to treat Type 1 diabetes

Xiaojun "Lance" Lian, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, was one of three recipients of the College of Engineering's ENGineering for Innovation & Entrepreneurship grant for "Small Molecule-Based Definitive Endoderm Kit and Pancreatic Progenitor Kit for Stem Cell Research and Therapy."

22 Mar 2019

High-fructose corn syrup fuels growth of colon tumors in mice

Consuming the equivalent of one can of soda per day caused mice predisposed to colon cancer to develop larger tumors, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.

22 Mar 2019

Combined glucocorticoid and antioxidant therapy could benefit premature babies

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have suggested that subtle changes to the drugs administered to mothers threatened with preterm birth or to premature babies could further improve clinical treatment and help increase their safety.

21 Mar 2019

Research identifies super-enhancers as novel target for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Differential H3K27AC marks were identified at enhancer regions of genes including c-MYC, MED1, OCT-4, NANOG, and SOX2 that can act as super-enhancers (SE), cluster of genes in non-cancerous, cancerous and metastatic PDAC cell lines.

1 Mar 2019

New technology platform digitally counts growth factors in single cells

Whether healthy or diseased, human cells exhibit behaviors and processes that are largely dictated by growth factor molecules, which bind to receptors on the cells. For example, growth factors tell the cells to divide, move, and when to die--a process known as apoptosis.

23 Feb 2019

Study finds genetic vulnerability to use of menthol cigarettes

A genetic variant found only in people of African descent significantly increases a smoker's preference for cigarettes containing menthol, a flavor additive.

15 Feb 2019

Study shows how neuroactive steroids inhibit activity of pro-inflammatory proteins

For the first time, scientists discovered how neuroactive steroids naturally found in the brain and bloodstream inhibit the activity of a specific kind of protein called Toll-like receptors, which have been known to play a role in inflammation in many organs, including the brain.

14 Feb 2019

New model sheds light on how small cell lung cancer is initiated

Scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a stem-cell-based model of small cell lung cancer that will help them understand how the disease is initiated and how it progresses.

11 Feb 2019

Scientists uncover new information about development of gastric cancer

Cardiff University researchers have uncovered new information about the underlying mechanisms for gastric cancer, providing hope of potential new therapies in the future.

29 Jan 2019

Preparation, characterization of Soyasapogenol B loaded onto functionalized MWCNTs

Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes is the name that is derived from their structure and walls are formed by one atom thick sheet of carbon.

17 Jan 2019

Identifying genetic factors that lead to squamous cell carcinoma

Skin cancer is on the rise in the United States. Squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common form of cancer in the U.S., has the highest mortality rate of all non-melanoma skin cancers. In roughly two to five percent of patients, the disease will metastasize and spread throughout the body, making it difficult to treat.

14 Jan 2019

New discovery casts doubt on plasma membrane models

Like planets, the body's cell surfaces look smooth from a distance but hilly closer up. An article published in Communications Biology describes implications, unknown to date, of the way data from cell surfaces are normally interpreted; i.e. as if they lacked topographic features.

14 Jan 2019

Mechanism underlying impaired allergic inflammation in children may explain hygiene hypothesis

The hygiene hypothesis may explain why asthma and other allergic airway diseases have dramatically increased over the past decades in industrialized countries.

9 Jan 2019

New technique using microneedles may mean rapid diagnoses of major illnesses

When people are in the early stages of an undiagnosed disease, immediate tests that lead to treatment are the best first steps. But a blood draw -- usually performed by a medical professional armed with an uncomfortably large needle -- might not be quickest, least painful or most effective method, according to new research.

3 Jan 2019

Research reviews role of protein tyrosine phosphatase in molecular biology

As the proteomics technology develops and human genomic analysis becomes easier to execute, molecules involved in the regulation of biochemical signaling pathways have become interesting subjects for researchers.

28 Dec 2018

MUSC researchers link higher levels of AGEs to ER-positive breast cancer risk

Poor diet and lack of exercise are associated with cancer development, but the underlying biology is not well understood. Advanced glycation end products could offer a biological link to help us understand how certain lifestyle behaviors increase cancer risk or lessen the likelihood that an anti-cancer therapy will be effective.

28 Dec 2018