Cell Signaling News and Research

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Cell signaling is vital for cells to communicate and coordinate their activities, not just in the human body, but in all organisms. There are thousands of signaling pathways, ranging from protein homeostasis to carcinogenesis and biofilm formation.

Discovery of human cell signaling systems using bioinformatics

There are many and various receptors on the surface of each human cell, which bind to specific molecules called ligands, to set off signals that modulate cell activity accordingly. These pathways are exploited by therapeutic drugs. In fact, one in three drugs makes use of receptors belonging to a single very large family – the GPCR (G protein receptor coupled receptor) family.

1 Nov 2019

Researchers identify new kidney cancer subtypes and clues to better diagnosis, treatment

In what is believed to be the most comprehensive molecular characterization to date of the most common - and often treatment-resistant - form of kidney cancer, researchers at Johns Hopkins' departments of pathology and oncology, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine report evidence for at least three distinct subtypes of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), along with new revelations about the proteins that define them.

From Johns Hopkins Medicine 31 Oct 2019

Novel method for aggressive breast cancer detection

A new study in rats published in the journal Cell Reports shows that the pattern of RNA molecules produced within certain immune cells called macrophages, found within breast cancers (tumor-associated macrophages, TAMs), can tell whether the tumor is cancerous or not and indicate the type of outcome. The same pattern is present in humans as in mice. This makes it directly useful in predicting the nature of a breast tumor and its outcome.

30 Oct 2019

Dynamic molecular signaling waves control embryonic fates

Timing is everything for young cells waiting to determine their identities.

29 Oct 2019

Scientists uncover how brain cells respond to and recover from lack of nutrition

We all know that food is essential to healthy development of the brain and body, especially in the earliest stages of life. But exactly how early brain growth is affected by nutrition is not as well understood, especially on a cellular level.

25 Oct 2019

Novel agent reduces buildup of toxic proteins in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's animal models

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center say they have developed and tested an agent that reduces the buildup of toxic proteins in animal models of both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and improves cognitive and motor behavior.

23 Oct 2019

Researchers receive $3.2 million NIH grant to pursue a deeper understanding of Down syndrome

Mount Sinai researchers have been awarded a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to pursue a deeper understanding of Down syndrome, the most common genetic cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities in children and young adults, affecting more than 200,000 individuals in the United States.

22 Oct 2019

Building models to reconstruct evolutionary change more accurately than ever before

Remember domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species and Darwin's tree of life metaphor we learned about in high school biology? That way of describing living-things lineages is just science's best guess about how genes have mutated and split over time to change things into what they are today.

17 Oct 2019

Research finds drugs for better long-term treatment of poorly controlled asthma

The waning effectiveness of drugs over time continues to be a major challenge in treating diseases, including asthma.

11 Oct 2019

Common genetic variant explains why immunotherapy often fails in Crohn's disease

The reason why a commonly used range of immunotherapy drugs is not effective in some patients with Crohn’s disease has so far not been identified, until now.

7 Oct 2019

New link between two important products of nitric oxide discovered

Ever since three US-based researchers working independently unveiled the role of nitric oxide in mediating blood vessel dilation, endothelial cell contraction and smooth muscle relaxation, their discoveries have served as a basis for novel treatments for high blood pressure and erectile dysfunction, among other conditions.

4 Oct 2019

Study explores how macrophage specialization gets disrupted by liver disease

Every tissue in the human body has an immune cell in it called a macrophage. Macrophages play important roles in the immune system's initial response to bacteria, viruses and wounds.

4 Oct 2019

Diabetic mice benefit from increased ‘good’ cholesterol levels

A new study has looked into the artificial increase in the level of 'good' cholesterol and its link to the reversal of atherosclerosis in arteries.

30 Sep 2019

Cancer Research Institute declares 2019 recipients of top scientific and philanthropic awards

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the discovery and development of powerful immunotherapies for all forms of cancer, has announced the 2019 recipients of its highest scientific and philanthropic awards.

27 Sep 2019

Leukemia drug appears to be effective in treating deadly pediatric brain tumor

A drug used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia appears to be more effective at stopping a type of medulloblastoma in mouse models than existing treatments for the deadly pediatric brain tumor, reports a multi-institutional team led by researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego.

21 Sep 2019

Researchers discover potential approach to treating diabetic retinopathy

Boston University researchers have identified an enzymatic precursor that is toxic to retinal cells and could be used in new treatments for diabetic retinopathy.

20 Sep 2019

Discovery opens up new opportunities to understand the genetics of cancer

University of Delaware molecular biologist Mona Batish and collaborators at Harvard Medical School and University of California, Los Angeles, have identified a new circular ribonucleic acid (RNA) that increases tumor activity in soft tissue and connective tissue tumors.

13 Sep 2019