Programmed Cell Death News and Research

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Low vitamin D could account for link between obesity and cancer, heart disease, diabetes

Overweight or obese women with less-than-optimal levels of vitamin D who lose more than 15 percent of their body weight experience significant increases in circulating levels of this fat-soluble nutrient, according to a new study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

26 May 2011

Clinical study: Celecoxib drug may treat breast cancer

The anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib may be a useful additional treatment for people with breast cancer, Dutch researchers report at the IMPAKT Breast Cancer Conference in Brussels.

5 May 2011

Scientists develop novel genetic model of premature aging disorders

Working with a group of national and international researchers, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have developed a new genetic model of premature aging disorders that could shed light on these rare conditions in humans and provide a novel platform for large-scale screening of compounds to combat these and other age-related diseases.

29 Apr 2011

Nutlin-3a molecules stimulate signal to induce cell death and senescence in brain cancer

Researchers of Apoptosis and Cancer Group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have found that a small molecule, Nutlin-3a, an antagonist of MDM2 protein, stimulates the signalling pathway of another protein, p53.

21 Apr 2011

Researchers discover new way to force cancer cells to self-destruct

Researchers at The Wistar Institute have found a new way to force cancer cells to self-destruct. Low doses of one anti-cancer drug currently in development, called Gamitrinib, sensitize tumor cells to a second drug, called TRAIL, also currently in clinical development as part of an anticancer regimen.

20 Apr 2011

Researchers pinpoint effects of enhanced adult neurogenesis in hippocampus

Adult mice engineered to have more newborn neurons in their brain memory hub excelled at accurately discriminating between similar experiences - an ability that declines with normal aging and in some anxiety disorders.

4 Apr 2011

Scientists sequence tumor genomes from 50 breast cancer patients

In one of the largest cancer genomics investigations reported to date, scientists have sequenced the whole genomes of tumors from 50 breast cancer patients and compared them to the matched DNA of the same patients' healthy cells.

4 Apr 2011

Rsearchers define new step that controls programmed cell death in cancer cells

When cells find themselves in a tight spot, the cell cycle regulator p21 halts the cell cycle, buying cells time to repair the damage, or if all else fails, to initiate programmed cell death.

2 Apr 2011

Loss of SKIP sensitizes cancer cells to apoptotic effects of DNA damage-inducing anticancer drugs

When cells find themselves in a tight spot, the cell cycle regulator p21 halts the cell cycle, buying cells time to repair the damage, or if all else fails, to initiate programmed cell death. In contrast to other stress-induced genes, which dispense with the regular transcriptional entourage, p21Cip1 still requires SKIP, a transcription elongation factor that also helps with the editing of transcripts, to be expressed, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

2 Apr 2011

Scientists develop new model for neurodegenerative disease

A team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has developed a new model for how inherited genes contribute to a common but untreatable and incurable neurodegenerative disease.

10 Mar 2011

NHMRC awards $38.4M for cancer and blood cell research

Institute research into how cancer develops and blood cell production and function will today be awarded $38.4 million under the National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) program grants scheme.

9 Mar 2011

Single-wall carbon nanotubes targeted and killed cancer cells without harming the healthy cells

SouthWest NanoTechnologies’ (SWeNT) Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT) exhibit promising potential for use in biomedical treatments such as cancer photo thermal therapies, new research reveals.

8 Mar 2011

Executioner enzyme may short circuit second form of cell death

An enzyme viewed as an executioner, because it can push cells to commit suicide, may actually short circuit a second form of cell death, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered.

4 Mar 2011

Hemispherx, Chronix jointly file US patent application for CFS blood test

Chronix Biomedical announced today that it filed a provisional United States patent application jointly with Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. on a blood test for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

4 Mar 2011

New breakthrough in immunological research

Immunological research at the University of Haifa, Israel, has made a new breakthrough, revealing a critical component in the "decision-making" process of white blood cells that play a role in the healing process from bacterial inflammation.

3 Mar 2011

Scientists provide new insight into mechanisms controlling programmed cell death pathways

Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators provides fresh insight into mechanisms controlling programmed cell death pathways and offers new targets in the fight against cancer and virus-infected cells

3 Mar 2011

TCD announces first patient treated in its TCD-717 Phase I trial

Traslational Cancer Drugs Pharma, S.L. (“TCD”) announced today that the first patient was treated on Friday the 18th of February with TCD-717 in a Phase I study performed in patients with advanced solid tumors. TCD-717 is a first-in-class, small molecule that precisely inhibits Choline Kinase Alpha, an enzyme heavily involved in the carcinogenic process. A total of 30 patients are planned to be treated in the trial, which will be conducted in accordance with FDA approval, in two leading medical centers in the U.S. The Principal Investigators are Dr. Julie Brahmer at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore; and Dr. Patricia LoRusso at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.

28 Feb 2011

Mechanism of cancer treatment related to infertility in women

Chemotherapeutic agents, used in cancer treatment, destroy not only cancer cells but also healthy cells, thus affecting germ cells as well. Consequently, after surviving cancer many female patients are confronted with the diagnosis: infertility. For a long time a relationship between infertility and chemotherapeutic agents has been assumed, but until now, the exact mechanism was not known.

23 Feb 2011

Two studies investigate frontiers of islet cell transplantation for treating diabetes

Two studies published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation investigate frontiers of islet cell transplantation for treating diabetes. Researchers in Milan, Italy re-examine the role of bone marrow stem cells in diabetic therapy and islet cell regeneration and Canadian researchers offer improved strategies for optimizing pancreatic islet culture in vitro.

18 Feb 2011

Study explores role of proline containing peptides in inhibiting anti-apoptotic function of XIAP

Basic and translational research on cancer, and development of new cancer therapeutics, has focused on different aspects of cancer cellular function. One area of focus is the life and death of a cancer cell. Apoptosis, also known as programmed cell death, is a fundamental process of cells including cancer cells. The signal transduction pathways of apoptosis involve many different proteins and their interactions with each other.

16 Feb 2011