Histones News and Research

RSS

Researchers find master regulator of EMT and metastasis

The predominant cause of death in cancer patients is metastasis, the formation of secondary tumors in other organs like the brain, liver, and lungs. Cancer cells detach from the original primary tumor and reach a single cell or group of cells in another organ. The cells of the body normally remain in place through adhering to an extracellular substance. However, cancer cells learn how to release themselves from these bonds and invade surrounding tissues, blood, and the lymphatic system.

11 Jun 2013

New research shows that spontaneous mutations contribute to congenital heart disease

Every year, thousands of babies are born with severely malformed hearts, disorders known collectively as congenital heart disease. Many of these defects can be repaired though surgery, but researchers don't understand what causes them or how to prevent them. New research shows that about 10 percent of these defects are caused by genetic mutations that are absent in the parents of affected children.

13 May 2013

Researchers reveal how genes are turned on and off during early human development

A large, multi-institutional research team involved in the NIH Epigenome Roadmap Project has published a sweeping analysis in the current issue of the journal Cell of how genes are turned on and off to direct early human development.

10 May 2013

Gene offers new insights into treatment strategies for deep-vein thrombosis

A gene associated with both protection against bacterial infection and excessive blood clotting could offer new insights into treatment strategies for deep-vein thrombosis -- the formation of a harmful clot in a deep vein.

9 May 2013

Study links mutated histone protein to rare brain stem cancer in children

Most cancer treatments are blunt. In an attempt to eradicate tumors, oncologists often turn to radiation or chemotherapy, which can damage healthy tissue along with the cancerous growths.

2 Apr 2013

Study uncovers new relationship between nuclear architecture, gene activity

Every time a cell divides it makes a carbon copy of crucial ingredients, including the histone proteins that are responsible for spooling yards of DNA into tight little coils.

25 Mar 2013

Cocaine can be lethal for people living with HIV

Cocaine, already a damaging drug for those with healthy immune systems, can be lethal for those living with human immunodeficiency virus. Mudit Tyagi, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, has received two federally funded grants to study how dangerous this combination is in HIV patients.

22 Mar 2013

Insight into reasons why precocious puberty occurs in females

New research from Oregon Health & Science University has provided significant insight into the reasons why early-onset puberty occurs in females.

30 Jan 2013

Non-coding RNA essential for normal embryonic cardiogenesis

Many different tissues and organs form from pluripotent stem cells during embryonic development. To date it had been known that these processes are controlled by transcription factors for specific tissues. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, in collaboration with colleagues at MIT and the Broad Institute in Boston, have now been able to demonstrate that RNA molecules, which do not act as templates for protein synthesis, participate in these processes as well.

30 Jan 2013

Cancer researchers solve mystery of how Chd5 protein exerts its beneficial effects

A team of cancer researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has solved the mystery of how one of the most powerful of the body's natural tumor-suppressing proteins, called Chd5, exerts its beneficial effects.

11 Jan 2013

Chromatin regulation not governed by a uniform histone code

In a novel use of gene knockout technology, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine tested the same gene inserted into 90 different locations in a yeast chromosome - and discovered that while the inserted gene never altered its surrounding chromatin landscape, differences in that immediate landscape measurably affected gene activity.

4 Jan 2013

Braking mechanism in olfactory neurons helps generate amazing diversity of sensors in the nose

The human nose has millions of olfactory neurons grouped into hundreds of different neuron types. Each of these neuron types expresses only one odorant receptor, and all neurons expressing the same odorant receptor plug into one region in the brain, an organization that allows for specific odors to be sensed.

15 Nov 2012

UiO researchers discover enzyme critical for spread of cancer

Enzyme hunters at UiO have discovered the function of an enzyme that is important in the spreading of cancer. Cancer researchers now hope to inhibit the enzyme.

15 Nov 2012

UCI study reveals novel immune system response to bacterial infections

UC Irvine biologists have discovered that fats within cells store a class of proteins with potent antibacterial activity, revealing a previously unknown type of immune system response that targets and kills bacterial infections.

14 Nov 2012

Selective blocking of HDAC11 inhibitor would act exclusively on tumor cells

Several substances inhibiting so-called HDAC enzymes have been studied in trials searching for new anti-cancer drugs in recent years. "Trials have shown that HDAC inhibitors are very effective in arresting growth of cultured cancer cells. But apart from a very rare type of lymphoma, these drugs unfortunately do not clinically affect malignant tumors," says Prof. Dr. Olaf Witt, who heads a research department at DKFZ and is pediatrician at the Center for Child and Adolescent Medicine of Heidelberg University Hospital.

6 Nov 2012

Nicotine exposure causes asthma in smoker's grandchildren

The dangers of smoking on smokers and their children are widely known but new research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine demonstrates that nicotine exposure also causes asthma in the smoker's grandchildren.

30 Oct 2012

Idea of nuclear reprogramming holds promise for repairing damaged tissue

The idea of taking a mature cell and removing its identity (nuclear reprogramming) so that it can then become any kind of cell, holds great promise for repairing damaged tissue or replacing bone marrow after chemotherapy.

29 Oct 2012

UNM Cancer Center scientist to continue histone modification study

While every one of our cells contains all of our genetic information, each type of cell uses only specific parts of that information to make its proteins. Uncovering more about the mechanism that directs which particular pieces of genetic information the cell uses is the research focus of Mary Ann Osley, PhD, University of New Mexico Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and Co-Leader of the Cancer Biology and Biotechnology Program at the UNM Cancer Center.

24 Oct 2012

Study to examine possible link between mitochondrial DNA and ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is a deadly disease. With no overt symptoms and no screening tests to catch it early, ovarian cancer is often detected at stage 3 or later. By then, it can be very aggressive and may have spread beyond the ovaries into other organs. Many women eventually succumb to it; the five-year survival rate for a stage 3 ovarian cancer diagnosis is only 34 percent.

24 Oct 2012

Lipid droplets play an unexpected role in embryo development

Histones are proteins needed to assemble DNA molecules into chromosomes. They have long represented a classic balancing act in biology; too few histone molecules result in DNA damage, while too many histones are toxic to the cell. New research at the University of Rochester is causing a fundamental shift in the concept of histone balance and the mechanism behind it.

19 Oct 2012