Cytoskeleton News and Research

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Study identifies risk factors for asparaginase-induced pancreatitis in ALL patients

Researchers have identified a rare genetic variation associated with a dramatically increased risk of severe acute pancreatitis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients treated with the chemotherapy agent asparaginase. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital led the study, which appears today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

26 Apr 2016

Actin filaments may be key to molecular machinery that forms, stores long-term memories

Thank the little "muscles" in your neurons for allowing you to remember where you live, what your friends and family look like and a lot more.

19 Apr 2016

Magnesium could be safe, cost-effective therapeutic intervention for genetic coagulation disorder

An international team of scientists was able to demonstrate in mouse and patient studies, how magnesium affects the production of blood platelets and that the TRPM7 channel function plays a key role in this process. Scientists of the Rudolf Virchow Center and the Hospital of the University of Würzburg were primarily involved in this study. Their results were published in the current journal "Nature Communications".

4 Apr 2016

Cell biologists identify new way for curing cancer and vessel diseases

Cell biologists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University discovered a new way of regulating of cell motility -- this discovery will make possible development of new drugs for curing onco- and vessel diseases.

22 Mar 2016

ROBO1 protein may delay progression of breast cancer

A protein called ROBO1 may delay the progression of breast cancer, according to a paper published in The Journal of Cell Biology. The study, "Loss of miR-203 regulates cell shape and matrix adhesion through ROBO1/Rac/FAK in response to stiffness" by Lily Thao-Nhi Le and colleagues, identifies a signaling pathway that may protect breast cells from the tumorigenic effects of stiff extracellular matrices.

16 Mar 2016

New study identifies cell communication mechanism

The cells of an organism interact not only with each other but with the extracellular matrix that surrounds them. Increasing evidence is unveiling the relevance of this structure--which is secreted by the cells themselves-- for the correct function of the organism and also for the development of various diseases.

24 Feb 2016

Applying ultrasound therapies for recovery of cardiac stem cells

A joint project of researchers from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Julius Wolff Institute and led by Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research shows that when cardiac stem cells undergo low-intensity pulsed ultrasound treatment, these cells can perform continuing modifications, tissue remodeling and regeneration of damaged cardiac tissue after a heart attack.

31 Jan 2016

Researchers find how microtubules, motor proteins assemble into macroscopic networks

What bones are to bodies, the cytoskeleton is to cells. The cytoskeleton maintains cellular structure, builds appendages like flagella and, together with motor proteins, powers cellular movement, transport, and division. Microtubules are a critical component of the cytoskeleton, vital for cell division and, because of that, an excellent target for chemotherapy drugs.

29 Jan 2016

CAP2 gene responsible for cardiac conduction disease in mice

The presence or absence of the CAP2 gene causes sudden cardiac death in mice, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In particular, the absence of the gene interrupts the animal's ability to send electrical signals to the heart to tell it to contract, a condition called cardiac conduction disease.

15 Dec 2015

CRISPR/Cas9 turns hPSCs into cell-based lab model system for polycystic kidney disease

CRISPR/Cas9 is hot. News of the revolutionary gene editing technique that is already shaking up bioscience has finally reached the news media and the public. Now comes a first rate example of how CRISPR is changing the pace of biomedical research by linking up with another cutting edge technology -- human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs).

12 Dec 2015

Researchers use magic-angle-spinning NMR to unveil structure of CAP-Gly protein

A latticework of tiny tubes called microtubules gives your cells their shape and also acts like a railroad track that essential proteins travel on. But if there is a glitch in the connection between train and track, diseases can occur.

26 Nov 2015

Research shows how scientists altered stem cells, triggered bone growth

Imagine you have a bone fracture or a hip replacement, and you need bone to form, but you heal slowly - a common fact of life for older people. Instead of forming bone, you could form fat. Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine may have found a way to tip the scale in favor of bone formation. They used cytochalasin D, a naturally occurring substance found in mold, as a proxy to alter gene expression in the nuclei of mesenchymal stem cells to force them to become osteoblasts (bone cells).

17 Nov 2015

Study: Eating sweet foods causes the brain to form memories that may control eating behaviors

Eating sweet foods causes the brain to form a memory of a meal, according to researchers at Georgia State University, Georgia Regents University and Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center.

13 Nov 2015

New funding for Centenary's life saving research

The Centenary Institute has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement of funding for 9 new and innovative medical research projects via the latest round of NHMRC grant rounds funding, officially confirmed today.

9 Nov 2015

CK5 protein marks ovarian cancer likely to be resistant to cisplatin

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer shows that protein cytokeratin 5 (CK5), known to be a marker of poor prognosis in breast cancer, also marks ovarian cancers likely to be resistant to the common chemotherapy cisplatin.

5 Nov 2015

Beta-catenin shows treatment target potential for TKI-resistant CML

Nuclear β-catenin could be a treatment target for patients whose chronic myeloid leukaemia is resistant to tyrosine kinase inhibitors independent of additional BCR–BL1 mutations, US researchers suggest.

1 Oct 2015

AFM Images of microvilli on live cells taken for the first time

In a just released article in the Journal of Molecular Recognition, Dr. Hermann Schillers et al. report the first visualization of individual microvilli on living cells with atomic force microscopy.

From Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology 1 Oct 2015

Cautiously-designed combination therapies may attenuate side effects associated with Alzheimer's drugs

BACE1 is the major drug target for Alzheimer's disease, but we know surprisingly little about its normal function in the CNS.

15 Sep 2015

Novogen's Anisina granted FDA Orphan Drug Designation for neuroblastoma

US-Australian drug discovery company, Novogen Limited, today announced that it has received notification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that its chemotherapy candidate drug, Anisina, has been granted Orphan Drug Designation for neuroblastoma.

16 Jul 2015

New understanding of keratin 17 protein could lead to development of better ways to prevent cancer

New research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that the protein keratin 17 - the presence of which is used in the lab to detect and stage various types of cancers - is not just a biomarker for the disease, but may play a critical role in tumor growth.

14 Jul 2015