Cell Division News and Research

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Researchers find STIM1 protein inhibits voltage-operated calcium channels

A calcium sensing protein, STIM1, known to activate store-operated calcium channels has been found to also inhibit voltage-operated calcium channels, according to researchers at Temple University.

4 Oct 2010

Study suggests balance between NF-kB and p53 signaling as a promising target for new cancer drugs

A new report published in the October 2010 print issue of The FASEB Journal offers a ray of hope in the search for new cancer drugs. By examining the seemingly conflicting roles of how oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes handle cellular stress, scientists from the Institute for Advanced Studies in New Jersey argue that each of these opposing systems could be potent drug targets in the effort to stop cancer. In addition, their hypothesis provides new insights into what contributes to immunological disorders such as chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases.

1 Oct 2010

Cancer-causing mutations have minimum effect on tumor growth: Research

Individual cancer causing mutations have a minute effect on tumor growth, increasing the rate of cell division by just 0.4 percent on average, according to new mathematical modeling by scientists at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and other institutions.

29 Sep 2010

Women & Infants Hospital receives $2.1M NIH grant to continue work under COBRE for Perinatal Biology

Women & Infants Hospital has recently received a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue work under the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for Perinatal Biology. Of the 108 COBREs across the country, Women & Infants is the only one specifically focused on developmental research.

28 Sep 2010

Researchers discover new signaling pathway for cell development

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a new cell signaling pathway that controls cell growth and development, a pathway that, when defective, helps promote the formation of several major forms of human cancer, including lymphoma and leukemia.

24 Sep 2010

Telomere length associated with higher rate of relapse and lower overall survival in aplastic anemia patients

Among patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy for severe aplastic anemia (a condition in which the bone marrow is unable to produce blood cells), the length of telomeres (chromosome markers of biological aging) was not related to the response to treatment but was associated with a higher rate of relapse (return to low blood cell counts) and lower overall survival, according to a study in the September 22/29 issue of JAMA.

22 Sep 2010

Physical or psychological stress before cancer treatment may sabotage therapy

Patients who experience physical or psychological stress - including rigorous exercise - one or two days before a cancer treatment might be unknowingly sabotaging their therapy, new research suggests.

22 Sep 2010

Penn study reveals structure of cell division's key molecule

On average, one hundred billion cells in the human body divide over the course of a day. Most of the time the body gets it right but sometimes, problems in cell replication can lead to abnormalities in chromosomes resulting in many types of disorders, from cancer to Down Syndrome.

18 Sep 2010

Wistar Institute scientists publish detailed report on structure, function of Cdc13 domain in protein

Scientists at The Wistar Institute have published the first detailed report on the structure and function of a crucial domain in the protein known as Cdc13, which sustains telomeres by clamping to DNA and recruiting replicating enzymes to the area.

16 Sep 2010

Notch1 protein impacts childhood leukemia progression: Study

A protein crucial for the immune response appears to be a key player in the progression of a devastating form of childhood leukemia called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Suppressing the activity of the protein kills the leukemic cells, the study shows, opening a potential avenue to new drugs that could prevent progression of the disease.

14 Sep 2010

Researchers discover first compound to activate enzyme telomerase in human body

Sierra Sciences, in collaboration with TA Sciences, Geron Corporation, PhysioAge, and the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), has announced the first compound ever discovered that activates the enzyme telomerase in the human body - a critical prerequisite for technology that could arrest or reverse the aging process in humans.

9 Sep 2010

Major contributing factor to maternal age-associated increase in aneuploidy identified

University of Pennsylvania biologists studying human reproduction have identified what is likely the major contributing factor to the maternal age-associated increase in aneuploidy, the term for an abnormal number of chromosomes during reproductive cell division.

9 Sep 2010

Researchers unveil protection mechanism of telomeres from DNA repair

In the latest issue of the journal Nature, Miguel Godinho Ferreira, Principal Investigator at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) in Portugal, lead a team of researchers to shed light on a paradox that has puzzled biologists since the discovery of telomeres, the protective tips of chromosomes: while broken chromosome ends generated by DNA damage (such as radiation or cigarette smoke) are quickly joined together, telomeres are never tied to each other, thus allowing for the correct segregation of the genetic material into all cells in our body.

9 Sep 2010

Silence Therapeutics receives two patents for RNA interference therapeutics

Silence Therapeutics plc announces the issuance of two new patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which are broadly directed to double-stranded short interfering RNA (siRNA) sequences against the validated cancer targets epidermal growth factor receptor related protein (EGFR-RP) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1).

8 Sep 2010

Quick increase of calcium concentration in cells rapidly trigger Aurora-A kinase enzyme activity

Aurora-A kinase (AurA) is an enzyme that is hyperactive in many cancers and drives tumor cell proliferation. Several AurA inhibitors are currently being tested in clinical trials to see if they slow tumor growth. Now, researchers in the Developmental Therapeutics Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center have identified an activation signal for AurA. They report in the September 7 issue of Nature Communications that a quick increase in the calcium concentration in a cell rapidly triggers AurA kinase activity.

8 Sep 2010

Further evidence on adverse effects of smoking on fertility

Two new studies have shed more light on how smoking may damage fertility, and give further weight to advice that mothers and fathers-to-be should stop smoking before attempting to conceive. The research is published online in the reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction today (Wednesday 8 September).

8 Sep 2010

Researchers develop new RNA molecule approach to kill cancer cells

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have engineered a fundamentally new approach to killing cancer cells. The process developed by Niles Pierce, associate professor of applied and computational mathematics and bioengineering at Caltech, and his colleagues uses small RNA molecules that can be programmed to attack only specific cancer cells then, by changing shape, those molecules cause the cancer cells to self destruct.

8 Sep 2010

New insight into abnormalities in cancer cells

A basic requirement for growth and life of a multicellular organism is the ability of its cells to divide. Chromosomes in the cells duplicate and are then distributed among the daughter cells. This distribution is organized by a protein complex made up of several hundred different proteins, called the centrosome. In cancer cells, the centrosome often assumes an unnatural shape or is present in uncontrolled numbers. The reasons for this were previously largely unknown.

4 Sep 2010

New insight into infertility in older women

Scientists now are closer to understanding why older women become less fertile, suffer a miscarriage or have a baby with Down's syndrome. This could be ground breaking in infertility treatment in the older women in their late 30s and early 40s.

3 Sep 2010

Researchers find role of Vpr protein in HIV infection

Dr. Éric A. Cohen, Director of the Human Retrovirology research unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), and his team published yesterday, in the online open-access journal PLos Pathogens, the results of their most recent research on the role of the Vpr protein in HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection and AIDS (acquired autoimmune deficiency syndrome).

3 Sep 2010