Protein News and Research

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Proteins are complex molecules that are made up of amino acids. They can be found in every cell in the body, and carry out vital processes that keep human beings alive. Mutations in proteins can lead to a multitude of diseases, the most common being cancer.

Researchers discover how protein ARTD1's DNA recruitment is regulated during inflammation

During inflammation, controlled gene expression is necessary in order to allow the organism to mount an effective defense response. For this process, the protein ARTD1 is removed from the DNA.

2 May 2012

Two MSU researchers invent protein purifier for pharma companies

Two Michigan State University researchers have invented a protein purifier that could help pharmaceutical companies save time and money.

2 May 2012

FDA approves Protalix, Pfizer’s ELELYSO for treatment of type 1 Gaucher disease

Pfizer Inc. and Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. announced today that the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ELELYSO (taliglucerase alfa) for injection, an enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for the long-term treatment of adults with a confirmed diagnosis of type 1 Gaucher disease.

2 May 2012

Experts identify new gene that could help development of human fertility treatments

Experts from Durham University have identified a new gene that could help the development of fertility treatments in humans in the future.

2 May 2012

NKCC1 protein may hold clues to how glioblastoma moves and invades

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a protein that transports sodium, potassium and chloride may hold clues to how glioblastoma, the most common and deadliest type of brain cancer, moves and invades nearby healthy brain tissue.

2 May 2012

Weight loss reduces inflammation in postmenopausal women

Postmenopausal women who were overweight or obese and lost at least 5 percent of their body weight had a measurable reduction in markers of inflammation, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

2 May 2012

Tyrosine kinases could act as drivers for growth and survival of sarcomas

To better understand the signaling pathways active in sarcomas, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center used state-of-the-art mass spectrometry-based proteomics to characterize a family of protein enzymes that act as "on" or "off" switches important in the biology of cancer. The tyrosine kinases they identified, the researchers said, could act as "drivers" for the growth and survival of sarcomas.

2 May 2012

Pfizer receives FDA approval for Elelyso to treat Type 1 Gaucher disease

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Elelyso (taliglucerase alfa) for long-term enzyme replacement therapy to treat a form of Gaucher disease, a rare genetic disorder.

2 May 2012

Reducing levels of SUN1 protein increases life span of mice with progeria, heart disease

Scientists have discovered that they can dramatically increase the life span of mice with progeria (premature ageing disease) and heart disease (caused by Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy) by reducing levels of a protein called SUN1.

30 Apr 2012

Antibody that neutralizes enzyme Kallikrein 6 staves off MS

Researchers studying multiple sclerosis(MS) have long been looking for the specific molecules in the body that cause lesions in myelin, the fatty, insulating cells that sheathe the nerves.

30 Apr 2012

Protein vital for cell survival and immune balance has another form with different function

Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators suggests that safeguarding cell survival and maintaining a balanced immune system is just the start of the myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 (MCL1) protein's work.

30 Apr 2012

Human iPS cells accrue genetic changes at about the same rate as replicating cells

A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Human Genome Research Institute has evaluated the whole genomic sequence of stem cells derived from human bone marrow cells—so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—and found that relatively few genetic changes occur during stem cell conversion by an improved method.

30 Apr 2012

Mirror-microRNAs control multiple aspects of brain function

Our genes control many aspects of who we are - from the colour of our hair to our vulnerability to certain diseases - but how are the genes, and consequently the proteins they make themselves controlled? Researchers have discovered a new group of molecules which control some of the fundamental processes behind memory function and may hold the key to developing new therapies for treating neurodegenerative diseases.

30 Apr 2012

Researchers discover gene for new form of intellectual disability

Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) led a study discovering a gene for a new form of intellectual disability, as well as how it likely affects cognitive development by disrupting neuron functioning.

27 Apr 2012

Gas NO plays a fundamental regulatory role in controlling bacterial function

Bacteria provide a well-known playground for scientists and the evolution of these earliest life forms has shed important perspective on potential therapies for some of the most common, deadly diseases. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have now discovered that, the gas nitric oxide (NO), produced in all cells of the human body for natural purposes, plays a fundamental regulatory role in controlling bacterial function, via a signaling mechanism called S-nitrosylation (SNO), which binds NO to protein molecules.

27 Apr 2012

Researchers discover small molecules that kill HPV-infected cancer cells

Researchers at The Wistar Institute announce the discovery of small molecules that kill cancer cells caused by infection with human papillomavirus (HPV). Their results, in both cell and mouse models, demonstrate that the small molecule inhibitors protect a tumor-suppressing protein targeted by viral proteins, thus killing the infected tumor cells.

27 Apr 2012

Study explores resilin-like materials for vocal fold disorders

A one-inch long grasshopper can leap a distance of about 20 inches. Cicadas can produce sound at about the same frequency as radio waves. Fleas measuring only millimeters can jump an astonishing 100 times their height in microseconds. How do they do it? They make use of a naturally occurring protein called resilin.

27 Apr 2012