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Nearly 50% of testicular cancer risk passed down genetically, new study reports

Almost half of the risk of developing testicular cancer comes from the DNA passed down from our parents, a new study reports.

9 Sep 2015

Studies using yeast genetics provide new insights into cell-division cycle

Studies using yeast genetics have provided new, fundamental insights into the cell-division cycle, researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute report.

2 Sep 2015

New study describes multi-method strategy to improve detection of PMS2 gene mutations in Lynch syndrome

About 3% of colorectal cancers are due to Lynch syndrome, an inherited cancer susceptibility syndrome that predisposes individuals to various cancers. Close blood relatives of patients with Lynch syndrome have a 50% chance of inheritance. The role that PMS2 genetic mutations play in Lynch syndrome has been underestimated in part due to technological limitations.

27 Aug 2015

Researchers identify first gene that causes common form of mitral valve prolapse

An international research collaboration led by Massachusetts General Hospital investigators has identified the first gene in which mutations cause the common form of mitral valve prolapse (MVP), a heart valve disorder that affects almost 2.5 percent of the population.

11 Aug 2015

Environmental factors promote genetic mutations, have underappreciated effect on disease, evolution

Washington State University researchers say environmental factors are having an underappreciated effect on the course of disease and evolution by prompting genetic mutations through epigenetics, a process by which genes are turned on and off independent of an organism's DNA sequence.

3 Aug 2015

BRCA gene mutations and ovarian cancer: an interview with Dr Matulonis, Harvard Medical School

The BRCA gene encodes for the BRCA proteins, BRCA1 and BRCA2. These proteins are very important in repairing DNA, which they do by correcting double-stranded breaks.

2 Aug 2015

Gene therapy used for sight restoration also strengthens visual pathways in the brain

Since 2007, clinical trials using gene therapy have resulted in often-dramatic sight restoration for dozens of children and adults who were otherwise doomed to blindness. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, have found evidence that this sight restoration leads to strengthening of visual pathways in the brain, published this week in Science Translational Medicine.

16 Jul 2015

Histones steadily replaced in brain cells throughout life, find Mount Sinai researchers

For decades, researchers in the genetics field have theorized that the protein spools around which DNA is wound, histones, remain constant in the brain, never changing after development in the womb.

2 Jul 2015

Imperial College London researchers discover new inherited form of obesity, type 2 diabetes

Scientists have discovered a new inherited form of obesity and type 2 diabetes in humans. A large number of genes are involved in regulating body weight, and there are now over 30 genes known in which people with harmful changes in DNA sequence become extremely overweight. Similarly, there are a number of genes that can, when altered, cause type 2 diabetes. These conditions are inherited through families in exactly the same way as disorders such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington's disease.

30 Jun 2015

Study opens new area of discovery for different aspects of cell biology, biomedical research

Every cell in the body uses phosphorylation, the process of adding a chemical tag to control a protein's function and fate, such as when it moves from one part of a cell to another or binds to other proteins.

19 Jun 2015

IDIBELL and IDIPAZ scientists identify epigenetic alterations in CVID

Researchers of the Chromatin and Disease Group from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute and La Paz Hospital have identified epigenetic alterations in Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID), the most common primary immunodeficiency, using as a starting point genetically identical monozygotic twins discordant for the disease.

18 Jun 2015

Rare form of autoimmune syndrome may be tied to mutations in AIRE gene

A hereditary autoimmune disease that was thought to be exceedingly rare may have a less severe form that affects one in 1,000 people or even more, according to new research conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Israel, and the University of Bergen, in Norway.

18 Jun 2015

Study on how maternal proteins help regulate initial cell divisions during early development

Researchers in the University of Georgia's Regenerative Bioscience Center are visually capturing the first process of chromosome alignment and separation at the beginning of mouse development. The findings could lead to answers to questions concerning the mechanisms leading to birth defects and chromosome instability in cancer cells.

10 Jun 2015

New JIC research helps to settle important debate on epigenetic inheritance

New research findings by John Innes Centre scientists have helped to settle an important debate in the field of epigenetic inheritance. Using the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana as a model for their research, Professor Martin Howard, Professor Caroline Dean and members of their labs, have been trying to understand how organisms 'remember' past events at the cellular level.

4 Jun 2015

DNA changes during drug withdrawal may offer promising ways to develop effective addiction treatments

One of the major challenges of cocaine addiction is the high rate of relapse after periods of withdrawal and abstinence. But new research reveals that changes in our DNA during drug withdrawal may offer promising ways of developing more effective treatments for addiction.

27 May 2015

Managing autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease: an interview with Dr Richard Sandford, University of Cambridge

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is one of the most common inherited kidney diseases. It's also one of the most common reasons that people require dialysis or transplantation...

13 Apr 2015

Study: 'Open' stem cell chromosomes hold great promise for treating liver, pancreas diseases

Stem cells hold great promise for treating a number of diseases, in part because they have the unique ability to differentiate, specializing into any one of the hundreds of cell types that comprise the human body.

2 Apr 2015

CNIO researchers describe presence of MDH2 gene mutations in hereditary neuroendocrine tumors

Researchers in the Hereditary Endocrine Cancer Group of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre -- led by Alberto Cascón and Mercedes Robledo -- have described the presence of mutations in the MDH2 gene, in a family with very rare neuroendocrine tumours associated with a high hereditary component: pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas that affect the suprarenal and parathyroid glands (groups of chromaffin cells in the central nervous system), respectively.

30 Mar 2015

Male genetic diversity declined due to wealth, power rather than `survival of fittest`

The DNA you inherit from your parents contributes to the physical make-up of your body -- whether you have blue eyes or brown, black hair or red, or are male or female.

23 Mar 2015

UIC researchers identify genetic variation that increases MS risk in women

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have identified a genetic variation that in women significantly increases their risk of developing multiple sclerosis.

5 Mar 2015