Enzyme News and Research

RSS

Common genetic variation makes some people more susceptible to coronary heart disease

Caucasians who carry this polymorphism, named K55R, were at significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease, independent of other risk factors, like cigarette smoking, diabetes, and hypertension.

16 May 2006

What is it about grapefruit juice that affects some drugs?

Researchers in the United States say they have identified the compound in grapefruit juice that affects how some drugs are absorbed in the body and produces unwanted side effects.

14 May 2006

K55R polymorphism gene variation linked to coronary heart disease

New research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health, found that a common genetic variation makes some people more susceptible to coronary heart disease (CHD).

12 May 2006

The ratio of phosphatidylcholine to phosphatidylethanolamine influences membrane integrity and steatohepatitis

An imbalance in the lipid content of the liver appears to trigger the downward spiral that leads some with fatty liver disease to advance to full-blown liver failure, according to a new study in the May Cell Metabolism.

11 May 2006

Neurons can produce Alzheimer's-linked apolipoprotein E

A question long debated among Alzheimer's disease researchers has been definitively answered by scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco.

10 May 2006

Grapefruit substance that interferes with drugs identified

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has identified and established the substance in grapefruit juice that causes potentially dangerous interactions with certain medications.

10 May 2006

Scientists unlock more secrets of HIV and SARS

UK scientists have cracked one of the key biological processes used by viruses such as HIV and SARS when they replicate according to a paper published in the journal Nature tomorrow (11 May). Viruses are able to interfere with the host cell processes that our bodies use to replicate cells, and protein synthesis is often one of their targets.

10 May 2006

Stem cell 'fusion' occurs in tumors

An Oregon Health & Science University study is adding credence to an increasingly popular theory that fusion is what bonds stem cells with bone marrow cells to regenerate organ tissue.

10 May 2006

Gene "CGI-58" linked to rare disease activates fat breakdown

A gene earlier linked to a rare disease plays a critical role in the body's "finely tuned balance" of fat storage and break down, new evidence reported in the May Cell Metabolism reveals.

10 May 2006

Genetic analysis of opioid-induced hyperalgesia

In findings published in Nature Biotechnology (May 2006, vol. 24 No. 5), Roche scientists present a new method for analyzing the metabolism of a commonly prescribed drug.

10 May 2006

New discovery about role of sugar in cell communication

A research team from Uppsala University has uncovered an entirely new mechanism for how communication between cells is regulated.

9 May 2006

Scientists discover molecular security mechanism for keeping gene mutations in check

Everyone knows mutations - genetic mistakes in DNA, the material of heredity - are bad: The more mutations in the cell's DNA, the higher the risk of cancer developing.

8 May 2006

New understanding of chromosomal glue

Researchers have a new understanding of the process cells use to ensure that sperm and eggs begin life with exactly one copy of each chromosome - a process that must be exquisitely regulated to prevent problems such as miscarriages and mental retardation.

8 May 2006

Gene silencing protein discovered

A team of researchers, including biologists at Washington University in St. Louis, has discovered the key role one protein plays in a major turn-off -in this case, the turning off of thousands of nearly identical genes in a hybrid plant.

8 May 2006

A pericellular collagenase directs the 3-D development of white adipose tissue

In the journal Cell, researchers report the serendipitous discovery that the initial development of fat requires a "remodeling" protein that must first make way for the lipid-laden tissue's growth.

8 May 2006

Urgent effort underway to learn how diabetes increases heart disease risk

A researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center has won the 2006 Thomas R. Lee Career Development Award from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), which includes an $842,400 grant to study how diabetes dramatically increases risk for cardiovascular disease.

8 May 2006

Important insights into how cells regulate certain growth-proteins

Researchers here have discovered a new mechanism used by cells - and manipulated by retroviruses - to control the making of certain essential proteins, including some involved in cancer.

8 May 2006

Scientists learn valuable lesson from nature - secret behind nature's medicines

After years of wondering how organisms managed to create self-medications, such as anti-fungal agents, chemists have discovered the simple secret.

3 May 2006

Inhibiting cell process may give cancer drug a boost

A molecule that interferes with the internal scaffolding that shapes the cell may kill cancer cells, retard the growth of tumors and give a boost to a common chemotherapy drug, according to findings appearing in the May 3 issue of the European Journal of Cancer.

3 May 2006

An engineered virus that tracks down and compels cancer cells to eat themselves

An engineered virus tracks down and infects the most common and deadly form of brain cancer and then kills tumor cells by forcing them to devour themselves, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report.

3 May 2006