Gene Silencing News and Research

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TET1 enzyme may be important target for cancer diagnostics, treatment

Mutations in the KRAS gene have long been known to cause cancer, and about one third of solid tumors have KRAS mutations or mutations in the KRAS pathway. KRAS promotes cancer formation not only by driving cell growth and division, but also by turning off protective tumor suppressor genes, which normally limit uncontrolled cell growth and cause damaged cells to self-destruct.

27 Nov 2014

Janssen submits YONDELIS NDA for treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma

PharmaMar announces that Janssen Research & Development, LLC has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for YONDELIS (trabectedin) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS), including liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma subtypes, who have received prior chemotherapy including an anthracycline.

26 Nov 2014

Researchers discover a new way to combat influenza virus infection

The influenza virus, like all viruses, is a hijacker. It quietly slips its way inside cells, steals the machinery inside to make more copies of itself, and then -- having multiplied -- bursts out of the cell to find others to infect.

21 Nov 2014

Promising new approach for combating colorectal cancer

Scientists at the University of York are working on a promising new approach for tackling colorectal cancer, the second most common cause of cancer-related death.

23 Sep 2014

Internal production of hydrogen peroxide can lead cells to exit cell cycle and become senescent

What happens inside cells when they detect the activation of a cancer-inducing gene? Sometimes, cells are able to signal internally to stop the cell cycle. Such cells are able to enter, at least for a time, a protective non-growth state.

30 Aug 2014

Idera collaborates with TMA to advance new potential treatment approach for myositis

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing nucleic acid therapeutics for patients with cancer and rare diseases, and The Myositis Association (TMA), the only nonprofit organization dedicated to solely serving all patients with inflammatory myopathies, today announced a collaboration to advance a new potential treatment approach for polymyositis and dermatomyositis known as Toll-like receptor (TLR) antagonism.

7 Aug 2014

Alnylam announces new pre-clinical results with DC for ALN-CC5 to treat complement-mediated diseases

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today new pre-clinical results with its Development Candidate (DC) for ALN-CC5, a subcutaneously administered investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting complement component C5 in development for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases.

10 Jun 2014

Study: RNAi silencing strategy blocks production of mutant huntingtin protein

A targeted gene silencing strategy blocks production of the dysfunctional huntingtin (Htt) protein, the cause of Huntington's disease, a fatal, inherited neurodegenerative disorder.

22 May 2014

Scientists discover protein potentially good target for influenza A virus

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered that a protein produced by the influenza A virus helps it outwit one of our body's natural defense mechanisms. That makes the protein a potentially good target for antiviral drugs directed against the influenza A virus.

11 Apr 2014

Idera Pharmaceuticals reports positive top-line results from Phase 2 trial of IMO-8400

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced positive top-line data from its randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled Phase 2 trial of IMO-8400 in 32 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

28 Mar 2014

UMass Medical School students win 2014 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award

Colin Conine and Emma Watson, PhD students in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, received the 2014 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award for research into the mechanisms governing epigenetic inheritance and the complex interactions between diet, gene expression and physiology.

26 Mar 2014

Scientists unlock one of mysteries of modern genetics

Scientists at Indiana University have unlocked one of the mysteries of modern genetics: how acquired traits can be passed between generations in a process called epigenetic inheritance. The new work finds that cells don't know to silence some genes based on information hardwired into their DNA sequences, but recognize heritable chemical marks that are added to the genes. These chemical tags serve as a form of molecular memory, allowing cells to recognize the genes and remember to silence them again in each new generation.

21 Mar 2014

IIN collaborates with Nanyang Technological University to establish Nanomedicine

Northwestern University's International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) is collaborating with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, to establish the NTU-Northwestern Institute for Nanomedicine.

24 Feb 2014

Horizon Discovery, Sirion Biotech ink supply and distribution agreement

Horizon Discovery, a leading provider of research tools to support translational genomics and the development of personalized medicines, today announced it has signed a supply and distribution agreement with Sirion Biotech GmbH.

17 Feb 2014

RNA interference approach holds great promise for treating cancer and other diseases

Inspired by tiny particles that carry cholesterol through the body, MIT chemical engineers have designed nanoparticles that can deliver snippets of genetic material that turn off disease-causing genes.

12 Feb 2014

Breakthrough technology could provide new approach for treatment of chronic wounds

A team of researchers led by an NIBIB grantee at Vanderbilt University has created a biodegradable scaffold that enables sustained, local delivery of gene-silencing factors called siRNA to promote tissue regeneration. The team recently used the scaffold to successfully deliver siRNA to mice in order to locally silence a gene normally responsible for inhibiting blood vessel formation.

20 Jan 2014

Mirimus develops enhanced tools for reversible gene suppression

Over the last decades, RNA interference (RNAi) has become an indispensable tool for functional genetic studies by harnessing the power of a cell intrinsic mechanism enabling reversible gene silencing.

17 Dec 2013

Alnylam initiates Phase II study with ALN-TTRsc for treatment of ATTR

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has initiated a pilot Phase II study with ALN-TTRsc, a subcutaneously delivered RNAi therapeutic targeting the transthyretin gene in development for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis.

17 Dec 2013

New discovery could help combat spread of sleeping sickness

A new discovery by scientists could help combat the spread of sleeping sickness.

15 Dec 2013

Scientists unveil novel piece of puzzle of cancer cell DNA repair mechanisms

Research with a Finnish background facilitates the development of more effective cancer medication. Cancer cells have an exceptional ability to repair damage to their DNA caused during uncontrolled cell division.

10 Dec 2013