Enzyme News and Research

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Link between obesity and viral infections

Experts don't dispute the important role that diet and activity play in maintaining a healthy weight.

23 Oct 2007

Extract from broccoli protects skin sun damage

U.S. researchers have discovered that as well as being healthy food, broccoli also helps skin cells fight off damage caused by harmful ultraviolet radiation.

23 Oct 2007

New method of oral insulin delivery patented

Syracuse University researchers have designed, tested and patented a new method of oral insulin delivery that can potentially help reduce daily insulin injections for millions of people with diabetes who require therapy for optimal glycemic control.

22 Oct 2007

Heparanase shows potential as cancer drug

Laboratory experiments have previously shown that cancer cells overproduce an enzyme, heparanase, which splits the body's own polysaccharide heparan sulfate into shorter fragments.

22 Oct 2007

FDA approves approved Ixempra (ixabepilone) for advanced breast cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Ixempra (ixabepilone), a new anti-cancer treatment, for use in patients with metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer who have not responded to certain other cancer drugs.

22 Oct 2007

Extract of broccoli sprouts protects from ultraviolet radiation

A team of Johns Hopkins scientists reports in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that humans can be protected against the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation - the most abundant cancer-causing agent in our environment - by topical application of an extract of broccoli sprouts.

22 Oct 2007

New virus drug will have to shoot at moving targets

The reproduction of

22 Oct 2007

Bacteria use plant defence for genetic modification

Bacteria that cause tumours in plants modify plant genomes by skilfully exploiting the plants' first line of defence.

22 Oct 2007

Smurfs a major cause of osteoarthritis

A new clinical trial seeks to predict who is most likely to experience osteoarthritis, and to test whether an experimental treatment can prevent it altogether.

19 Oct 2007

Enzyme synergy shown to perpetuate sleeping sickness

The pathogenesis of the parasite African trypanosome (T. brucei) has been linked to a key protein switch, detailed in a new study by researchers at the University of Iowa and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center of Iowa City, led by Dr. John Donelson.

19 Oct 2007

New stem cells by reprogramming

Researchers are discovering new ways to help ‘de-program' specialised cells so that they can be re-programmed to form a range of different types of tissue, an international meeting of stem cell biologists was told.

18 Oct 2007

Discovery on human individuality and maternal and paternal DNA

Have you ever wondered why you inherited your mother's smile but not your father's height?

18 Oct 2007

Defects in Jhdm2a gene could be the cause for some cases of male infertility

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have identified a gene crucial to the final step of the formation of a functional sperm cell.

18 Oct 2007

New mechanism discovered that mammalian cells employ to fight infections of the Hepatitis C virus

A team of researchers led by biologists at the University of California, San Diego has discovered a completely new mechanism that mammalian cells employ to fight infections of the Hepatitis C virus, which affects approximately 2.7 million Americans and 170 million people worldwide.

18 Oct 2007

Benefit of exenatide has not yet been proven

Since May 2007, a new drug has been available for the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 in Germany: exenatide (trade name: Byetta), which is marketed by the manufacturer Eli Lilly.

18 Oct 2007

The genetics of MLL leukemogenesis

In the November 1st issue of G&D, Dr. Michael Cleary (Stanford University School of Medicine) and colleagues identify the gene Meis1 as a critical player in the establishment of leukemia stem cells, and the development of MLL leukemia.

17 Oct 2007

New technique to probe the dynamics of the Holliday junction

The Holliday junction is a four-stranded DNA structure that forms during a process known as homologous recombination, which occurs when damaged DNA is repaired. Understanding how DNA repairs itself is an essential step in ultimately developing therapies for genetic disorders.

17 Oct 2007

Discovery of new area for exploration of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia may occur, in part, because of a problem in an intermittent on/off switch for a gene involved in making a key chemical messenger in the brain, scientists have found in a study of human brain tissue.

17 Oct 2007

Nanorods of gold blast tumor cells

Researchers have shown how tiny "nanorods" of gold can be triggered by a laser beam to blast holes in the membranes of tumor cells, setting in motion a complex biochemical mechanism that leads to a tumor cell's self-destruction.

17 Oct 2007

FDA approves raltegravir new HIV drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved raltegravir tablets for treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-1 infection in combination with other antiretroviral agents in treatment-experienced adult patients who have evidence of viral replication and HIV-1 strains resistant to multiple antiretroviral agents.

17 Oct 2007