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Firefly stem cells may help doctors to heal damaged hearts: Research

Stem cells that glow like fireflies could someday help doctors heal damaged hearts without cutting into patients' chests.In his University of Central Florida lab, Steven Ebert engineered stem cells with the same enzyme that makes fireflies glow. The "firefly" stem cells glow brighter and brighter as they develop into healthy heart muscle, allowing doctors to track whether and where the stem cells are working.

29 Sep 2010

Researchers find genetic variants that cause arthritis in breast cancer patients taking aromatase inhibitors

Mayo Clinic researchers and their international colleagues have discovered genetic variants that lead to severe arthritis for a subset of women when taking aromatase inhibitors to treat their breast cancer. This serious side effect is so painful that many women halt their lifesaving medication. The findings appear today in the online issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology.

28 Sep 2010

Optogenetics helps to restore optimal movement in people with physical disabilities

Researchers at Stanford University were able to use light to induce normal patterns of muscle contraction, in a study involving bioengineered mice whose nerve-cell surfaces are coated with special light-sensitive proteins.

28 Sep 2010

Clinical study results for patient-specific vaccine therapy to treat metastatic melanoma announced

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian recently announced encouraging clinical study results for patient-specific vaccine therapy to treat metastatic melanoma. The study is ongoing, but the report concludes that patient-specific vaccines can sometimes induce durable complete regression of progressing soft-tissue melanoma metastases, as demonstrated in one particular patient who participated in the trial.

28 Sep 2010

Japanese Patent Office issues patent for ZIOPHARM Oncology's darinaparsin

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. today announced that the Japanese Patent Office has issued a patent, Patent No. 4,571,408, with claims covering pharmaceutical compositions, including oral formulations, of various organic arsenic compounds, including darinaparsin (Zinapar or ZIO-101), and the use of these compositions and the organic arsenic compounds for the treatment of cancer, including as part of a combination therapy.

28 Sep 2010

Women & Infants Hospital receives $2.1M NIH grant to continue work under COBRE for Perinatal Biology

Women & Infants Hospital has recently received a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue work under the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for Perinatal Biology. Of the 108 COBREs across the country, Women & Infants is the only one specifically focused on developmental research.

28 Sep 2010

Study may provide new developing approaches to treat age-related osteoporosis

Aging disrupts the balance between bone formation and bone destruction, resulting in osteoporosis, which is characterized by reduced bone mass and increased risk of fracture. Recent data have suggested that this imbalance is a result of a decrease in formation of bone forming osteoblast cells from mesenchymal cells upon aging.

28 Sep 2010

Pfizer ceases SUN 1120 Phase 3 trial of SUTENT in men with CRPC

Pfizer Inc. announced today the discontinuation of the SUN 1120 Phase 3 trial evaluating SUTENT (sunitinib malate) in combination with prednisone for men with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer that had progressed despite treatment with a docetaxel-based chemotherapy regimen. During a scheduled interim analysis, an independent Data Monitoring Committee found that the combination of sunitinib with prednisone was unlikely to improve overall survival when compared to prednisone alone.

28 Sep 2010

Scientists identify gene associated with common migraines

An international study led by scientists at Universit- de Montr-al and University of Oxford, has identified a gene associated with common migraines. Their findings show that a mutation in the KCNK18 gene inhibits the function of a protein called TRESK. TRESK normally plays a key role in nerve cell communication. Published today in Nature Medicine, this study may have implications for people who suffer from recurrent headaches, which include more than six million Canadians.

28 Sep 2010

C-CCNE receives grant to improve cancer treatment using nanotechnology

The National Cancer Institute has awarded a five-year, $13.6 million grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (C-CCNE) based at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, for research to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer through applying/using advances in nanotechnology.

28 Sep 2010

New study shows peripheral nerves regenerate themselves after injury

Unlike nerves of the spinal cord, the peripheral nerves that connect our limbs and organs to the central nervous system have an astonishing ability to regenerate themselves after injury. Now, a new report in the October 1st issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, offers new insight into how that healing process works.

28 Sep 2010

LIMK inhibition blocks collective invasion of tumor cells: Researchers

Researchers have shown that LIM kinase, an important regulator of actin cytoskeleton dynamics, plays a key role in cancer metastasis. The study appears online on September 27 in The Journal of Cell Biology www.jcb.org.

28 Sep 2010

KeyVive provides Simplatype mHealth SMS technology to improve healthcare

KeyVive, Inc., a healthcare technology company that uses social media and self management tools to help individuals with chronic illnesses, is dialing up a ground-breaking, HIPAA compliant mHealth technology for people not only affected by diabetes, but also with other diseases.

28 Sep 2010

BCBC awards $5 million for cell therapy research in type 1 diabetes

Maike Sander, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and cellular & molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has been awarded nearly $5 million by the Beta Cell Biology Consortium (BCBC) to lead an interdisciplinary team in cell therapy research for type 1 diabetes.

28 Sep 2010

Sunscreens containing nanoparticles alarms consumer group

The consumer group CHOICE is demanding more honesty from sunscreen manufacturers after many leading brands were found to contain nanoparticles. There is controversy as to whether the particles, which are smaller than 100 billionths of a meter, can penetrate the skin and have harmful side-effects, says CHOICE. However many of these sunscreens contain nano-grade titanium dioxide and zinc oxide that enable them to offer the same sun protection but go on clear and with less skin residue.

27 Sep 2010

UGA researcher receives NIH award for high-risk, high-reward carbohydrate research

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a prestigious EUREKA award to Robert Woods, a professor at the University of Georgia Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, to develop a new method for understanding how antibodies interact with large molecules known as glycans that are a major component of all cell surfaces.

27 Sep 2010

MediciNova receives FDA approval to proceed with initial trial of ibudilast

MediciNova Inc, a biopharmaceutical company publicly traded on the NASDAQ Global Market and the Hercules Market of the Osaka Securities Exchange (Code Number:4875), today reported FDA's approval to proceed with an initial trial of the company's neurological drug candidate, ibudilast (MN-166/AV411), as a potential new pharmacotherapy for methamphetamine addiction.

27 Sep 2010

Researchers identify cellular/molecular defect in T cell regulatory pathway

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have identified a defect in the T cell regulatory pathway which normally controls autoreactive T cells that attack the body's own tissues and organs. A majority of people with Type 1 diabetes who were tested in the study were found to have the newly-identified cellular/molecular defect, and the researchers were able to successfully correct the defect in-vitro.

27 Sep 2010

GBS pathogen suppresses immune cell function in newborn infants: Research

Group B Streptococcus (GBS), a bacterial pathogen that causes sepsis and meningitis in newborn infants, is able to shut down immune cell function in order to promote its own survival, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

27 Sep 2010

Takeda announces SGN-35 ADC trial results in Hodgkin lymphoma patients

Seattle Genetics, Inc. and Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, today announced positive top line results from the pivotal trial of single agent brentuximab vedotin (SGN-35), an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) targeted to CD30. The trial was conducted in 102 relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients.

27 Sep 2010