Cell Cycle News and Research

RSS

UK scientists receive Royal Society awards for cancer research

Two Cancer Research UK scientists were recently awarded prestigious Royal Society Awards, while a number of Cancer Research UK scientists were elected fellows of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences.Dr Tomas Lindahl is the recipient of the Royal Society Copley Medal, the world's oldest prize for scientific achievement, and Professor Stephen West is awarded this year's GlaxoSmithKline Prize and Lecture.

18 Aug 2010

Scientists identify possible therapeutic strategy for reducing leukemia risk from chemotherapy

A UCSF-led team has discovered at least one key reason why blood stem cells are susceptible to developing the genetic mutations that can lead to adult leukemia. Their finding also may explain, they say, why some other age-related hematological disorders develop.The study, reported in "Cell Stem Cell" and reviewed in Cell Stem Cell and Cell, opens a new frontier for studying the molecular underpinnings of adult leukemia.

17 Aug 2010

SIK2 impacts cell division cycle, regulates ovarian cancer response to chemotherapy: Research

For the first time, Salt Inducible Kinase 2 (SIK2) has been found to play a critical role in cell division and to regulate the response of some ovarian cancers to chemotherapy.Findings were reported by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the August issue of Cancer Cell. The study adds to growing evidence that combination therapies targeting different phases of the cell division cycle are vital for optimal cancer treatment.

17 Aug 2010

RPA70 associated with SUMO-specific protease facilitates DNA repair: Research

A team of investigators led by a physician-scientist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has shown for the first time that the small protein SUMO can team up with the replication protein A (RPA) complex to facilitate DNA repair. The study is published in the Aug. 13 edition of the journal Molecular Cell.

13 Aug 2010

Cyclacel second-quarter net loss decreases to $6.5 million

7 Aug 2010

Scientists identify role of PNPASE in regulating RNA import into mitochondria

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have uncovered a role for an essential cell protein in shuttling RNA into the mitochondria, the energy-producing "power plant" of the cell. The import of nucleus-encoded small RNAs into mitochondria is essential for the replication, transcription and translation of the mitochondrial genome, but the mechanisms that deliver RNA into mitochondria remain poorly understood.

7 Aug 2010

Salamander research findings bring scientists closer to future regenerative therapies

Tissue regeneration in salamanders and newts seems like it should be the stuff of science fiction. But it happens routinely. Why can't we mammals just re-grow a limb or churn out a few new heart muscle cells as needed? New research suggests there might be a very good reason: Restricting our cells' ability to pop in and out of the cell cycle at will - a prerequisite for the cell division necessary to make new tissue - reduces the chances that they'll run amok and form potentially deadly cancers.

6 Aug 2010

WaferGen launches SmartChip System for discovery, validation of biomarkers

WaferGen Biosystems, Inc., a leading developer of state-of-the-art genomic analysis systems, today announced it has launched the breakthrough WaferGen SmartChip Real-Time PCR System, the next-generation Real-Time PCR system for discovery and validation of biomarkers, or gene expression patterns, on a single platform. The SmartChip System is designed to provide accurate, highly sensitive and high-throughput gene expression profiling capabilities to researchers, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies.

6 Aug 2010

Study links sea sponge genome sequence with first animals and cancer

The sponge, which was not recognized as an animal until the 19th century, is now the simplest and most ancient group of animals to have their genome sequenced. In a paper appearing in the August 5 issue of the journal Nature, a team of researchers led by Daniel Rokhsar of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (JGI), report the draft genome sequence of the sea sponge Amphimedon queenslandica and several insights the genome gives into the origins of both the first animals and cancer.

5 Aug 2010

Galangin mediates apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through mitochondrial pathway: Study

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, particularly in China. However, HCC remains one of the more difficult cancers to treat. It is important to screen for new anti-cancer drugs. A number of dietary compounds possess anti-cancer properties. These dietary compounds may modify the activity of specific targets that control cell proliferation and apoptosis. Galangin could inhibit the methoxyresorufin O-demethylase activity of CYP1A2, CYP1A1 and P-form phenolsulfotransferase.

31 Jul 2010

Researchers discover tumor suppressor lincRNAs

The recent discovery of more than a thousand genes known as large intergenic non-coding RNAs (or "lincRNAs") opened up a new approach to understanding the function and organization of the genome. That surprising breakthrough is now made even more compelling with the finding that dozens of these lincRNAs are induced by p53 (the most commonly mutated gene in cancer), suggesting that this class of genes plays a critical role in cell development and regulation. Furthermore, the researchers identify one lincRNA in particular (lincRNA-p21), and demonstrate its critical role in suppressing the reading of many genes across the genome following p53 activation.

30 Jul 2010

New biophotonic imaging method monitors transformations of cellular macromolecules during apoptosis in real-time

Apoptosis, programmed cell death, is essential to normal development, healthy immune system function, and cancer prevention. The process dramatically transforms cellular structures but the limitations of conventional microscopy methods have kept much about this structural reorganization a mystery.

23 Jul 2010

Study on role of nucleolinus in cell cycle regulation

When searching for long-lost treasure, sometimes all you need is a good flashlight.Such a "flashlight," developed at the Marine Biological Laboratory's Josephine Bay Paul Center, has been used to illuminate a long-neglected cellular component - the nucleolinus - and confirm its role in cell division.

23 Jul 2010

Over-expression of Arpc1b promotes tumorigenic properties of breast cancer cells: Research

A major discovery, led by researchers from The George Washington University Medical Center, promises to revolutionize the way scientists think about key aspects of cellular lifecycle and offers a new avenue for cancer researchers to explore in their quest to one day slow down the progression of cancer.

21 Jul 2010

AMPK may regulate epigenetic mechanism: Research

AMP-activated protein kinase, or AMPK, is a master regulator protein of metabolism that is conserved from yeast to humans. When a cell is low on fuel, AMPK shuts down processes that use energy and turns on processes that produce energy.Biologists have been studying how AMPK works for several decades and know that once it is activated, AMPK turns on a large number of genes by passing the "make more energy" message through numerous signaling cascades in the cell. What was not known, until now, was that AMPK also works via an epigenetic mechanism to slow down or stop cell growth.

17 Jul 2010

JNK protein controls cell cycle, new study reveals

Put simply, a tumor is the result of out-of-control cell growth. To assure that the cell cycle - the cell's process of duplicating itself to make more cells - goes smoothly, a large network of proteins tells other proteins what to do and when to do it. When any of these layers of protein regulation fail, cell growth can get out of hand. A new study led by Ze'ev Ronai, Ph.D., associate director of Sanford-Burnham's National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center, reveals a new player in cell cycle control.

15 Jul 2010

EntreMed announces publication of preclinical data for ENMD-2076

EntreMed, Inc., today announced the publication of preclinical data for its Phase 2 oncology drug candidate, ENMD-2076 an Aurora A/angiogenic kinase inhibitor, which demonstrated significant activity against multiple myeloma cell lines and in MM models in vivo. Results of the study, conducted by EntreMed's collaborator, Sherif Farag, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the Indiana University School of Medicine, were published in the on-line version of the British Journal of Haematology on June 15, 2010 and are scheduled to be published in print in the August 1, 2010 issue.

13 Jul 2010

Novel molecular pathway that regulates invasive growth, metastasis in ER-positive breast cancer discovered

A multi-disciplinary team of international researchers from Ghent University in Belgium, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) in the US, Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, and INSERM in France have uncovered a novel molecular pathway that regulates invasive growth and metastasis in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

6 Jul 2010

Histone H1 phosphorylation involved in control of ribosomal RNA gene transcription

A protein that helps pack DNA into the cell nucleus has an important role in regulating gene activity, scientists report. The researchers found that the protein, histone H1, also takes part in the formation of ribosomes, the cellular workbenches on which all proteins are made.

2 Jul 2010

FDA grants Cyclacel's sapacitabine orphan drug designation for AML and MDS

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing oral therapies that target the various phases of cell cycle control for the treatment of cancer and other serious disorders, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to the company's sapacitabine (CYC682) product candidate for the treatment of both acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

1 Jul 2010