Cell Death News and Research

RSS

Study offers clues to potential treatments for preserving, restoring insulin-producing cells

In type 1 diabetes, the body relentlessly attacks and destroys its own insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. But a study by Joslin Diabetes Center scientists now has firmly established that some of these cells endure for many decades in a small group of people with the disease—offering clues to potential treatments for preserving and even restoring the crucial cell population.

12 Aug 2010

Common soluble proteins become insoluble and form aggregates while aging: Study

In neurodegenerative diseases, clumps of insoluble proteins appear in patients' brains. These aggregates contain proteins that are unique to each disease, such as amyloid beta in Alzheimer's disease, but they are intertwined with small amounts of many other insoluble proteins that are normally present in a soluble form in healthy young individuals. For years, these other proteins were thought to be accidental inclusions in the aggregates, much as a sea turtle might be caught in a net of fish.Now, in a surprising new finding, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, report that many of the proteins present as minor components of disease aggregates actually clump together as a normal part of aging in healthy individuals.

11 Aug 2010

TetraLogic raises $32 million in Series C financing to advance clinical development of TL32711 cancer drug

TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel small molecule drugs to treat cancer, today announced it has completed a $32 million Series C financing with new investor Clarus Ventures leading the round.

11 Aug 2010

Scientists develop new method to enable drug release inside cancer cells

Scientists from UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute and Korea's Yonsei University have developed an innovative method that enables nanomachines to release drugs inside living cancer cells when activated remotely by an oscillating magnetic field.The new system - the first to utilize a class of porous nanomaterials driven by a magnetic core - has the potential to improve both targeted drug-delivery and magnetic resonance imaging in the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

11 Aug 2010

Synta second-quarter net loss increases to $9.1 million

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to treat severe medical conditions, today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010.

10 Aug 2010

Scientists work towards creating a vaccine for Parkinson's disease

Nina Brown, 68, and millions of others with a debilitating neurological condition called Parkinson's disease are counting on researchers for a cure. At The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), protein chemists are working to develop a therapeutic vaccine.

10 Aug 2010

Intellect Neurosciences receives Notice of Allowance for new OXIGON patent in Canada

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the Canadian Patent and Trademark Office for a new patent related to OX1 (OXIGON™), the Company's clinical-stage drug candidate that has disease-modifying potential for Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disorders. OX1 is an orally-administered, brain-penetrating, naturally-occurring, copper-binding small molecule targeting multiple mechanisms that contribute significantly to the underlying pathology of Alzheimer's disease.

9 Aug 2010

New research on use of medicine, diet to prevent UV-induced skin cancer

In most cases, non-melanoma skin cancers are caused by overexposure to ultraviolet radiation - the invisible rays from the sun that can burn the skin. To reduce the risk of skin cancer, dermatologists encourage the public to Be Sun Smart, including limiting sun exposure and using broad-spectrum sunscreens.

6 Aug 2010

Scientists identify tiny RNA molecule that increases blood stem cells

Investigators have identified a new mechanism that controls the number of hematopoietic stem cells - cells that give rise to all blood and immune system cells. In a report in the online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute identify a tiny RNA molecule that increases the number of these blood stem cells, an advance that may improve treatment of blood system cancers.

5 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

New article published in Journal of Surgical Research highlights PACE technology

SANUWAVE Health, Inc., an emerging medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of non-invasive, biological response activating devices in regenerative medicine, today announced that an article titled "Microvascular Response to Shock Wave Application in Striated Skin Muscle" was recently published in the on-line edition of the Journal of Surgical Research.

4 Aug 2010

Effects of natural compound against prostate cancer published in Integrative Cancer Therapies

Researchers at Columbia University have published the dramatic effects of a natural 33-ingredient compound against prostate cancer cell lines. The impressive results are found in the most recent publication of Integrative Cancer Therapies.

3 Aug 2010

PHD1 useful for pharmacologic inhibition in IBD: Research

Research into inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) led by UCD Conway Institute scientists with national and international collaborators has identified a key regulator involved in maintaining the functional integrity of the gut lining. The findings, published recently in the scientific journal, Gastroenterology, provide information that may be important in developing a new therapeutic approach to the treatment of the disease.

3 Aug 2010

Neuroglobin may protect against Alzheimer's disease: Study

A team of scientists at the University of California, Davis and the University of Auckland has discovered that neuroglobin may protect against Alzheimer's disease by preventing brain neurons from dying in response to natural stress. The team published the results of their study in the April, 2010 issue of Apoptosis.

3 Aug 2010

Body’s natural cell suicide program may trigger tumor development: Study

Cancer research springs a surprise. Researchers at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne have found that programmed cell death (apoptosis) or cell suicide plays a role in tumor development. This process is an important phenomenon in our body as it helps remove damaged cells. Now apoptosis has been found to be protective against cancer formation and autoimmune diseases.

1 Aug 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

Researchers find new pathway that leads to brain cell death in neurodegenerative disorders

Although their genetic underpinnings differ, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease are all characterized by the untimely death of brain cells. What triggers cell death in the brain? According to a new study published by researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in the July 30 issue of Molecular Cell, the answer in some cases is the untimely transfer of a gaseous molecule (known as nitric oxide, or NO) from one protein to another.

30 Jul 2010

Researchers discover enzyme crucial for DNA repair

Researchers have discovered an enzyme crucial to a type of DNA repair that also causes resistance to a class of cancer drugs most commonly used against ovarian cancer.Scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Life Sciences Institute of Zhejiang University in China report the discovery of the enzyme and its role in repairing DNA damage called cross-linking in the Science Express advance online publication of Science.

30 Jul 2010

New paradigm in TB research may lead to improved vaccination, treatment

Often causing no symptoms in carriers of the disease, worldwide tuberculosis (TB) infects eight to ten million people every year, kills two million, and it is highly contagious as it is spread through coughing and sneezing. "It's a global health disaster waiting to happen, even here in Canada, but this new paradigm in TB research may offer an immediate opportunity to improve vaccination and treatment initiatives," explains Dr. Maziar Divangahi of McGill University and of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.

30 Jul 2010

Thermo Fisher Scientific introduces low evaporation plates for cell culture and high content analysis

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced the Thermo Scientific Nunc Edge 96-well Plates for cell-based assays.

From Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 29 Jul 2010