Genetic News and Research

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Commercial genetic profiling services should provide detailed information about test results: Report

Direct-to-consumer personal genetic profiling services that claim to predict people's health risks by analysing their DNA are often inconclusive and companies that sell them should provide better information about the evidence on which the results are based, says the UK Nuffield Council on Bioethics, in a new report on the ethics of so-called personalised healthcare services.

13 Oct 2010

BioRx receives limited distribution rights from Baxter for AATD drug GLASSIA

BioRx, a specialty pharmacy company, has received limited distribution rights from Baxter International Inc. for a new drug, GLASSIA™ [Alpha 1-Proteinase Inhibitor (Human)], the first and only liquid, ready-to-use treatment for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) in the United States. AATD is a genetic disorder that causes low levels of alpha 1-antitrypsin, resulting in emphysema. AATD is also referred to as "genetic" or "congenital" emphysema.

From Baxter International Inc. 13 Oct 2010

Sirius collaborates with Golden Helix to advance diagnostic pipeline

Sirius Genomics, a developer of companion diagnostics, and Golden Helix, a global leader in genetic analysis solutions, announced today a collaboration under which Golden Helix will apply its expertise and technologies in SNP and copy number variant analysis and predictive modeling to advance development of Sirius' diagnostic pipeline.

13 Oct 2010

Kennedy Krieger Institute launches phase II clinical trial to investigate Revatio for DMD treatment

Kennedy Krieger Institute announced today the launch of a first‐of‐its‐kind, phase II clinical trial to investigate a treatment for heart disease in individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

13 Oct 2010

New cancer initiative may promote rapid drug development

Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center (GHS) unveiled details of its new Institute for Translational Oncology Research, a visionary cancer initiative that will help pave the way for new breakthroughs in rapid drug development, diagnostic discovery and advanced cancer care. ITOR is part of the GHS Cancer Center, a recognized regional multi-disciplinary center.

13 Oct 2010

ERYtech Pharma, Genzyme enter collaboration to develop novel therapeutic enzyme formulation

ERYtech Pharma is pleased to announce it has signed a collaborative research agreement with Genzyme Corporation to explore the feasibility of developing a novel therapeutic enzyme formulation using ERYtech's proprietary technology.

13 Oct 2010

MTN-007 phase trial evaluates vaginal microbicide to prevent rectal transmission of HIV

Tenofovir gel, a vaginal microbicide that has shown promise for preventing HIV through vaginal sex, is being tested in a new trial looking at its safety and acceptability when used rectally. The results of the study, being led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), will help determine if the gel should be evaluated further for its potential to prevent HIV among both men and women who engage in receptive anal intercourse.

13 Oct 2010

Akonni receives NIJ grant to develop HCID system for SNP identification

Akonni Biosystems, a molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and plans to market sophisticated genetic testing devices for diagnosing complex infectious and human diseases, today announced receipt of a nearly $500,000 Phase III Grant from the National Institutes of Justice (NIJ).

13 Oct 2010

Defect in 21st amino acid leads to progressive brain atrophy: Study

A research team at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center in Beer-Sheva, Israel has detected a genetic mutation resulting in a progressive disease of severe mental retardation and epilepsy beginning at infancy. The research was just published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

13 Oct 2010

HSV1716 clinical trial for childhood cancer receives FDA grant

A clinical trial testing a genetically reprogrammed herpes simplex virus as treatment for deadly forms of childhood cancer has received a U.S. Food and Drug Administration grant to support the research.

13 Oct 2010

Scientists identify mutant protein in type 2 diabetes

University of Michigan scientists have identified events inside insulin-producing pancreatic cells that set the stage for a neonatal form of non-autoimmune type 1 diabetes, and may play a role in type 2 diabetes as well. The results point to a potential target for drugs to protect normally functioning proteins essential for producing insulin.

13 Oct 2010

Global study finds new set of genes associated with body fat distribution and obesity

Two major international studies looking at data from a quarter of a million people around the globe have found a new set of genes associated with body fat distribution and obesity. Researchers at 280 institutions worldwide, including Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, conducted the studies. The research, published in the October 10 online edition of Nature Genetics, sheds light on the biological processes involved in body fat distribution, possibly leading to new ways of treating obesity.

12 Oct 2010

Agilent introduces new microarray platform to study genetic basis of developmental disorders

Agilent Technologies Inc. today introduced the SurePrint G3 Human CGH+SNP microarray platform, an innovative system for simultaneous analysis of chromosomal copy number changes and copy-neutral aberrations. The system allows researchers to study the genetic basis of developmental disorders as well as many cancers.

12 Oct 2010

Researchers develop new method to identify chemical histone modifications

Test system on Drosophila should provide the key to histone function. The genetic inherited material DNA was long viewed as the sole bearer of hereditary information. The function of its packaging proteins, the histones, was believed to be exclusively structural. Additional genetic information can be stored, however, and passed on to subsequent generations through chemical changes in the DNA or histones. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen have succeeded in creating an experimental system for testing the function of such chemical histone modifications and their influence on the organism.

12 Oct 2010

Healthy lifestyle can reduce breast cancer risk in women with family history

Having a family history of breast cancer can lead some people to wonder if their risk is out of their control. However, a study of more than 85,000 postmenopausal women observed that regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, and drinking less alcohol lowers breast cancer risk for women with, and without a family history of the disease.

12 Oct 2010

Folic acid supplement does not reduce cardiovascular events, cancer or death

Use of folic acid supplements appears to lower blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine—theorized to be a risk factor for heart and blood vessel disease—but does not appear to be associated with reduced rates of cardiovascular events, cancer or death over a five-year period, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies in the October 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

12 Oct 2010

Biologists recommend virtual institute for RNA research

A Europe-wide network of labs focusing on RNA research is needed to make the most of RNA's high potential for treating a wide range of diseases. The recommendation for this virtual research institute comes from a panel of biologists at the European Science Foundation in a report published today, 'RNA World: a new frontier in biomedical research'.

12 Oct 2010

Final results from landmark trial confirm survival benefits of EGFR mutations in lung cancer

Mature results from a landmark Phase-III trial have confirmed that patients with EGFR mutation-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer have better overall survival when treated with gefitinib or chemotherapy than patients whose tumors do not carry such mutations.

11 Oct 2010

Obesity treatments falter, but researchers announce gene links

The Wall Street Journal: "An international research consortium says it has identified 18 new gene sites linked to obesity and 13 others associated with how fat is distributed in the body, advances that shed new light on the complex biology underlying one of the world's most pressing public-health problems. The findings are based on studies involving nearly 250,000 people, making the effort the largest so far to unravel the genetic basis of common human traits, researchers said.

11 Oct 2010

Genentech initiates GDC-0449 Phase II clinical trial in BCC patients

Curis, Inc. a drug development company seeking to develop next generation targeted small molecule drug candidates for cancer treatment, today announced that its collaborator Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, has initiated a Phase II clinical trial of GDC-0449, an orally-administered small molecule Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor, as a single-agent therapy for patients with operable basal cell carcinoma (BCC).

11 Oct 2010