Cell Death News and Research

RSS

XL888 inhibitor can prevent vemurafenib resistance in melanoma patients

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and colleagues in California have found that the XL888 inhibitor can prevent resistance to the chemotherapy drug vemurafenib, commonly used for treating patients with melanoma.

29 Feb 2012

Aurora-A protein blocks proper functioning of tumor-suppressor p73

A protein abundantly found in treatment-resistant cancers holds an important tumor-suppressor out of the cell nucleus, where it would normally detect DNA damage and force defective cells to kill themselves, a team of scientists reports in the current Cancer Cell.

28 Feb 2012

New drug for Huntington's disease might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action

A study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that a new drug for Huntington's disease - pridopidine or dopamine stabiliser ACR16 - might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action. Researchers have found that at very low concentrations, ACR16 binds to the sigma-1 receptor, a protein in the brain important to neuronal function and survival.

24 Feb 2012

Fetus protecting enzyme also prevents autoimmune diseases

Cells that die naturally generate a lot of internal debris that can trigger the immune system to attack the body, leading to diseases such as lupus.

24 Feb 2012

New Huntington's drug might operate via previously unknown mechanisms of action

24 Feb 2012

New experiments may provide insights into possible modes of heart damage from alcohol

Beyond the personal tragedy of chronic alcoholism there is heartbreak in the biological sense, too. Scientists know severe alcoholism stresses the heart and that mitochondria, the cellular energy factories, are especially vulnerable to dysfunction. But they don't know the precise mechanism.

24 Feb 2012

Study reveals how mutation shuts down DJ-1 protein's neuroprotective abilities

Purdue University researchers revealed how a mutation in a protein shuts down a protective function needed to prevent the death of neurons in Parkinson's disease, possibly opening the door to new drug strategies to treat the disorder.

22 Feb 2012

New chemical compound to treat brain damage from stroke

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have designed, produced and patented a new chemical compound for the possible treatment of brain damage caused by stroke. The compound binds 1,000 times more effectively to the target protein in the brain than the potential drug currently being tested on stroke victims.

22 Feb 2012

Mitochondria may be promising new target for cancer treatment

Mitochondria, tiny structures within each cell that regulate metabolism and energy use, may be a promising new target for cancer therapy, according to a new study. Manipulation of two biochemical signals that regulate the numbers of mitochondria in cells could shrink human lung cancers transplanted into mice, a team of Chicago researchers report in the journal FASEB.

22 Feb 2012

Genomic instability allows malignant cells to acquire more deadly characteristics

Genomic instability caused by an erosion of the protective caps on chromosomes, followed by activation of an enzyme that reinforces those aps, allows malignant cells to evade destruction and acquire more deadly characteristics, researchers report in an Online Now article at the journal Cell.

21 Feb 2012

Telomerase reactivation in malignant cells after genomic instability causes cancer progression

Inhibiting telomerase, an enzyme that rescues malignant cells from destruction by extending the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes, kills tumor cells but also triggers resistance pathways that allow cancer to survive and spread, scientists report in the Feb. 17 issue of Cell.

21 Feb 2012

Low dose carbon monoxide therapy can prevent fetal death

Heme oxygenase-1 is essential for the growth of blood vessels in the placenta and in establishing blood flow in the umbilical cord. Too little HO-1 can lead to a restriction in the growth of the fetus and even in fetal death and miscarriage. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Medical Gas Research has shown that low dose carbon monoxide therapy is able to restore placental function and prevent fetal death in mice, without any detrimental effects.

19 Feb 2012

Scientists discover molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur

Yale scientists have discovered the molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur: Mitochondrial DNA mutations trigger a signaling cascade, resulting in programmed cell death.

17 Feb 2012

New potential strategy for KRAS-mutant colon cancers

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center have identified a new potential strategy for treating colon tumors driven by mutations in the KRAS gene, which usually resist both conventional and targeted treatments.

17 Feb 2012

Low choline intake increases risk of liver scarring in menopausal women with NAFLD

Menopausal women with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) who don't consume enough of the essential nutrient choline appear to be at higher risk for liver scarring, according to research led by scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

17 Feb 2012

New way to improve vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases

Research groups from Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the University of Geneva have discovered a new way of improving vaccines against infectious diseases and for use in cancer therapies. Scientists have shown a basic new mechanism that stimulates the body's own alarm signals in case of viral infection to animate the immune system to maximum performance.

17 Feb 2012

Curcumin prolongs life and enhances activity of fruit flies with AD

Curcumin, a substance extracted from turmeric, prolongs life and enhances activity of fruit flies with a nervous disorder similar to Alzheimers. The study conducted at Link-ping University, indicates that it is the initial stages of fibril formation and fragments of the amyloid fibrils that are most toxic to neurons.

15 Feb 2012

Epigenetic mechanisms maintain tolerance in T cells specific for self antigens

At the most basic level, the immune system must distinguish self from non-self, that is, it must discriminate between the molecular signatures of invading pathogens (non-self antigens) and cellular constituents that usually pose no risk to health (self-antigens).

14 Feb 2012

New potential therapy for Huntington disease

Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a promising new therapy for Huntington disease that restores lost motor skills and may delay or stop the progression of the disease based on lab model tests, says the lead researcher.

14 Feb 2012

Scientists identify single prion protein that causes neuronal death

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified a single prion protein that causes neuronal death similar to that seen in "mad cow" disease, but is at least 10 times more lethal than larger prion species.

10 Feb 2012