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DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Study: Sensitivity to pain could be altered by person's lifestyle and environment

Researchers at King's College London have discovered that sensitivity to pain could be altered by a person's lifestyle and environment throughout their lifetime. The study is the first to find that pain sensitivity, previously thought to be relatively inflexible, can change as a result of genes being switched on or off by lifestyle and environmental factors - a process called epigenetics, which chemically alters the expression of genes.

5 Feb 2014

Researchers discover genetic mutations that cause deadly lung disease

A team of researchers, led by physicians and scientists at Intermountain Medical Center and ARUP Laboratories in Salt Lake City, has made a medical breakthrough by discovering genetic mutations that cause a rare and deadly lung disease.

4 Feb 2014

Pfizer’s palbociclib Phase 2 trial achieves primary endpoint in patients with advanced breast cancer

Pfizer Inc. today announced that the randomized Phase 2 trial [PALOMA-1] of palbociclib achieved its primary endpoint by demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) for the combination of palbociclib and letrozole compared with letrozole alone in post-menopausal women with estrogen receptor positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) locally advanced or newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer.

4 Feb 2014

New insights into cell division could improve knowledge of cancer

New insights into how the cells in our bodies divide could improve our knowledge of a condition linked to cancer, a study suggests.

4 Feb 2014

Edison's vatiquinone receives Orphan Status for treatment of Friedreich's ataxia

Edison Pharmaceuticals today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Status to vatiquinone for the treatment of Friedreich's ataxia.

4 Feb 2014

New super-resolution microscopy method could spot dozens of distinct types of biomolecules

A new microscopy method could enable scientists to generate snapshots of dozens of different biomolecules at once in a single human cell, a team from the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University reported Sunday in Nature Methods.

4 Feb 2014

Biotheranostics launches complete genomic tests for metastatic cancer patients

bioTheranostics, Inc., today introduced the bioT3 Metastatic Cancer Solution, a suite of genomic-based tests that provide personalized diagnostic information and therapeutic guidance for metastatic cancer patients across the continuum of care.

4 Feb 2014

Study finds cervicovaginal microbiota differs in women destined to have preterm birth

In a study to be presented on Feb. 6 at 3:15 p.m. CST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting-, in New Orleans, researchers will report that cervicovaginal (CV) microbiota differs in the late second and early third trimester in women destined to have a preterm birth.

4 Feb 2014

Chemical "signature" in blood may predict which AML patients would benefit from chemotherapy

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center have found a chemical "signature" in blood-forming stem cells that predicts whether patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) will respond to chemotherapy.

4 Feb 2014

Study: Noninvasive prenatal testing detects 83.2% of chromosomal abnormalities

In a study to be presented on Feb. 6 at 9 a.m. CST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting-, in New Orleans, researchers will report that noninvasive prenatal testing detected 83.2 percent of chromosomal abnormalities normally picked up by invasive diagnostic testing strategies, such as chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis.

4 Feb 2014

Researchers discover genetic function that helps "tumor suppressor" genes to prevent cancer

Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered a genetic function that helps one of the most important "tumor suppressor" genes to do its job and prevent cancer.

4 Feb 2014

New noninvasive chemical probe detects common species of staph bacteria in the body

Chances are you won't know you've got a staph infection until the test results come in, days after the symptoms first appear. But what if your physician could identify the infection much more quickly and without having to take a biopsy and ship it off for analysis?

From Integrated DNA Technologies 3 Feb 2014

Treating peanut allergy with oral immunotherapy changes DNA of immune cells

Treating a peanut allergy with oral immunotherapy changes the DNA of the patient's immune cells, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. The DNA change could serve as the basis for a simple blood test to monitor the long-term effectiveness of the allergy therapy.

31 Jan 2014

Drugs that modify DNA structure may be beneficial for treating Alzheimer's disease

In a study published this week in Nature Neuroscience, Bess Frost, PhD, and co-authors, identify abnormal expression of genes, resulting from DNA relaxation, that can be detected in the brain and blood of Alzheimer's patients.

31 Jan 2014

Researchers develop antibiotic "smart bomb" that can identify specific strains of bacteria

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a de facto antibiotic "smart bomb" that can identify specific strains of bacteria and sever their DNA, eliminating the infection. The technique offers a potential approach to treat infections by multi-drug resistant bacteria.

31 Jan 2014

Researchers identify potential genes that can be targeted for new treatments for hepatocellular cancer

Patients with advanced hepatocellular (or liver) cancer have high mortality rates, with existing drugs demonstrating only a small, but significant survival advantage. By combining a zebrafish model of liver cancer with data from human tumors, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai hope to identify potential genes of interest that can be targeted for new treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer to develop from liver cells.

31 Jan 2014

Researchers study how epigenetic alterations contribute to age-related increases in breast cancer risk

Age is a key risk factor for breast cancer. A recent study by researchers from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, "Age-related DNA methylation in normal breast tissue and its relationship with invasive breast tumor methylation," examines the connection between cancer and the aging process to see if epigenetic DNA alterations might contribute to age-related increases in breast cancer risk.

31 Jan 2014

DNA News and Research

Further Reading

Study: Sensitivity to pain could be altered by person's lifestyle and environment

Researchers discover genetic mutations that cause deadly lung disease

Pfizer’s palbociclib Phase 2 trial achieves primary endpoint in patients with advanced breast cancer

New insights into cell division could improve knowledge of cancer

Edison's vatiquinone receives Orphan Status for treatment of Friedreich's ataxia

New super-resolution microscopy method could spot dozens of distinct types of biomolecules

Biotheranostics launches complete genomic tests for metastatic cancer patients

Study finds cervicovaginal microbiota differs in women destined to have preterm birth

Chemical "signature" in blood may predict which AML patients would benefit from chemotherapy

Study: Noninvasive prenatal testing detects 83.2% of chromosomal abnormalities

Researchers discover genetic function that helps "tumor suppressor" genes to prevent cancer

New noninvasive chemical probe detects common species of staph bacteria in the body

Treating peanut allergy with oral immunotherapy changes DNA of immune cells

Drugs that modify DNA structure may be beneficial for treating Alzheimer's disease

Researchers develop antibiotic "smart bomb" that can identify specific strains of bacteria

Researchers identify potential genes that can be targeted for new treatments for hepatocellular cancer

Researchers study how epigenetic alterations contribute to age-related increases in breast cancer risk

TCGA Research Network identify new potential therapeutic targets for major form of bladder cancer

Researchers use natural DNA molecules to build DNA nanoarchitectures

Findings on molecular defects behind bladder cancer may pave way for new, targeted treatments

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