Signaling Pathway News and Research

RSS

Study identifies certain small molecule chemicals that can disrupt quorum sensing in A. baumanni

Acinetobacter baumanni, a pathogenic bacterium that is a poster child of deadly hospital acquired infections, is one tough customer.

22 Aug 2012

Researchers identify key element in the development of Burkitt lymphoma

Burkitt lymphoma is a malignant, fast-growing tumor that originates from a subtype of white blood cells called B lymphocytes of the immune system and often affects internal organs and the central nervous system. Now Dr. Sandrine Sander and Professor Klaus Rajewsky of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have identified a key element that transforms the immune cells into malignant lymphoma cells.

14 Aug 2012

Neutrophils play an unexpected role in mediating insulin resistance

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say neutrophils, an abundant type of white blood cell typically tasked with attacking bacteria and other foreign invaders, also plays an unexpected role in mediating insulin resistance - the central characteristic of type 2 diabetes, which afflicts an estimated 26 million Americans.

6 Aug 2012

New role for oncogenic signaling pathway in embryonic stem cell self-renewal

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the University of Manchester, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center have found a new role for an oncogenic signaling pathway in embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and in reprogramming adult cells into an ESC-state, which will aid in the development of future cancer therapies.

3 Aug 2012

EPHA3 mutations may be important drivers of lung cancers

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have identified how one of the genes most commonly mutated in lung cancer may promote such tumors.

31 Jul 2012

Scientists identify mechanisms by which GLP-1 protects against kidney disease, diabetes

Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have identified biological mechanisms by which glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a gut hormone, protects against kidney disease, and also mechanisms that inhibit its actions in diabetes.

24 Jul 2012

Researchers identify several gene mutations responsible for medulloblastoma

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital have identified several gene mutations responsible for the most common childhood brain tumor, called medulloblastoma, adding evidence to the theory that the diagnosis is a group of genetically distinct cancers with different prognoses. These and accompanying findings are likely to lead to less-toxic, better-targeted treatment approaches over the next two years, the researchers said.

23 Jul 2012

Bryologs more potent than prostratin in treating HIV

Thanks to antiretrovirals, an AIDS diagnosis hasn't been a death sentence for nearly two decades. But highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, is also not a cure.

19 Jul 2012

Inhibiting STAT3 might unleash an effective anti-lymphoma immune response

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues have demonstrated that the inhibition of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in mouse models of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), an aggressive and incurable subtype of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that becomes resistant to treatment, can harness the immune system to eradicate residual malignant cells responsible for disease relapse.

19 Jul 2012

Communication between brain and muscle cells is short-lived without LRP4 protein

Communication between the brain and muscle must be strong for us to eat, breathe or walk. Now scientists have found that a protein known to be on the surface of muscle cells must be present in both tissues to ensure the conversation is robust.

12 Jul 2012

Colon cancer cells use clever trick to migrate: Study

How does a tumor cell set up a signaling pathway in order to metastasize? Scientists at Technische Universit-t M-nchen's (TUM) Klinikum rechts der Isar and Helmholtz Zentrum M-nchen have made a significant discovery in this area by studying colon cancer.

11 Jul 2012

Broken heart syndrome arms against epinephrine high

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or “broken heart syndrome,” may actually protect the heart from very high levels of epinephrine, suggest results from an animal study.

10 Jul 2012

Conference highlights utility of zebrafish for human disorder studies

Zebrafish, popular as aquarium fish, now have an important place in research labs as a model organism for studying human diseases.

8 Jul 2012

NOTCH1 signaling promotes T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia-initiating cell regeneration

Research suggests that patients with leukemia sometimes relapse because standard chemotherapy fails to kill the self-renewing leukemia initiating cells, often referred to as cancer stem cells. In such cancers, the cells lie dormant for a time, only to later begin cloning, resulting in a return and metastasis of the disease.

3 Jul 2012

Imaging PR status may help identify tumor response to endocrine therapy

Research published in the July issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows imaging progesterone receptor (PR) status also may be able to identify responders and nonresponders to endocrine therapy at an early stage.

3 Jul 2012

New treatment target against metastatic pancreatic cancer

Detailed analysis of genes expressed in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) -- cells that break off from solid tumors and travel through the bloodstream -- has identified a potential treatment target in metastatic pancreatic cancer.

2 Jul 2012

Study details canonical Wnt signaling pathway

Many lung cancers are driven by mutations in the epidermal growth-factor receptor (EGFR), and so it makes sense that many successful modern treatments block EGFR activity. Unfortunately, cancers inevitably evolve around EGFR inhibition, and patients with lung cancers eventually relapse.

30 Jun 2012

UH receives federal grants to pursue projects related to prostate cancer, diabetes and obesity

Researchers at the University of Houston (UH) have been awarded more than $862,000 in federal grants to pursue projects related to prostate cancer, diabetes and obesity. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) will fund two new prostate cancer projects, while a third NIH grant will support diabetes and obesity research in the UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS).

28 Jun 2012

Researchers discover how GLP-2 receptor suppresses hunger and food intake

Researchers have discovered how a hormone in the gut slows the rate at which the stomach empties and thus suppresses hunger and food intake. Results of the animal study will be presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

26 Jun 2012

De novo somatic gene mutations likely to cause hemimegalencephaly

Hemimegalencephaly is a rare but dramatic condition in which the brain grows asymmetrically, with one hemisphere becoming massively enlarged. Though frequently diagnosed in children with severe epilepsy, the cause of hemimegalencephaly is unknown and current treatment is radical: surgical removal of some or all of the diseased half of the brain.

25 Jun 2012