Signaling Pathway News and Research

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Supporting cells in the inner ear can help repair damaged sensory hair cells, say researchers

Researchers have found in mice that supporting cells in the inner ear, once thought to serve only a structural role, can actively help repair damaged sensory hair cells, the functional cells that turn vibrations into the electrical signals that the brain recognizes as sound.

26 Jul 2013

Study may lead to personalized treatments for mitochondrial energy disorders

Researchers have identified a master network of signaling molecules that acts like a "fuse box" to regulate the cellular effects of defective energy flow in mitochondrial respiratory chain diseases—a diverse set of difficult-to-treat genetic-based energy disorders.

25 Jul 2013

Researchers find that Notch signaling elevated in tumors relative to normal bone

Many cancers show inappropriate activation of a cell signaling pathway called NOTCH. In the developing body, NOTCH tells brain cells to grow and proliferate. It should be quiet in the adult body, but cancers restart NOTCH to drive their own growth, far and beyond the rate of healthy tissues.

25 Jul 2013

Pair of studies sheds light on cancer cell signaling

A pair of studies by a team of University of Notre Dame researchers led by Crislyn D'Souza-Schorey, professor of biological sciences, sheds light on a biological process which is activated across a vast range of malignancies.

16 Jul 2013

Protein complex may be an effective alternative to opioid pain medications

A drug targeting a protein complex containing two different types of opioid receptors may be an effective alternative to morphine and other opioid pain medications, without any of the side effects or risk of dependence, according to research led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

16 Jul 2013

Nerves play critical role in development and spread of prostate tumors, say researchers

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that nerves play a critical role in both the development and spread of prostate tumors. Their findings, using both a mouse model and human prostate tissue, may lead to new ways to predict the aggressiveness of prostate cancer and to novel therapies for preventing and treating the disease. The study published online today in the July 12 edition of Science.

12 Jul 2013

Seven named recipients of GSA poster awards at 19th International C. elegans Meeting

Six graduate students and one undergraduate were named as recipients of Genetics Society of America poster awards at the 19th International C. elegans Meeting, held June 26 on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles.

12 Jul 2013

Study confirms role of MAPK mutations in pilocytic astrocytomas

Brain cancer is the primary cause of cancer mortality in children. Even in cases when the cancer is cured, young patients suffer from the stress of a treatment that can be harmful to the developing brain. In a search for new target structures that would create more gentle treatments, cancer researchers are systematically analyzing all alterations in the genetic material of these tumors.

10 Jul 2013

p53 restoration of function drug candidate: an interview with Dr. Wayne Danter, MD, FRCPC President and CEO of Critical Outcome Technologies

COTI-2 is a computer-designed small molecule that was discovered by our artificial intelligence drug discovery platform called CHEMSAS.

8 Jul 2013

Study identifies genomic regions associated with cholera susceptibility

An international research team has used a novel approach to identify genetic factors that appear to influence susceptibility to cholera. The findings by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Broad Institute and the International Center for Diarrh-al Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) indicate the importance of pathways involved in regulating water loss in intestinal cells and of the innate immune system in the body's response to the bacteria that causes cholera, which affects from 3 to 5 million people each year and causes more than 100,000 deaths.

4 Jul 2013

Scientists identify molecular signals that spur the formation of arteries

The ability to form blood vessels is one of evolution's crowning achievements, and something that separates vertebrates (animals with a backbone) from the rest of the animal kingdom.

4 Jul 2013

Scientists discover network for molecular communication in human embryonic stem cells

Scientists at A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPIMG) in Berlin (Germany) have discovered a molecular network in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) that integrates cell communication signals to keep the cell in its stem cell state.

3 Jul 2013

Scientists find new links in gene networks that control movement

The idea that worms can be seen as waveforms allowed scientists at Rice University to find new links in gene networks that control movement.

2 Jul 2013

Research suggests new models for study of Barrett's esophagus

Research focused on the regulation of the adult stem cells that line the gastrointestinal tract of Drosophila suggests new models for the study of Barrett's esophagus.

28 Jun 2013

Caspase-2 protein contributes to cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have demonstrated that a protein called caspase-2 is a key regulator of a signaling pathway that leads to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.

26 Jun 2013

UCSF scientists explore how Dact1 mutations contribute to psychiatric disorders

Gene mutations that cause cell signaling networks to go awry during embryonic development and lead to major birth defects may also cause subtle disruptions in the brain that contribute to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and bipolar disorder, according to new research by UC San Francisco scientists.

25 Jun 2013

TSRI neuroscientists fill in significant gap in the understanding of how neurons mature

Neuroscientists at The Scripps Research Institute have filled in a significant gap in the scientific understanding of how neurons mature, pointing to a better understanding of some developmental brain disorders.

21 Jun 2013

Targeting particular signaling pathway can help prevent temporal lobe epilepsy, scientists report

Temporal lobe epilepsy, the most common form of epilepsy, is characterized by recurrent seizures throughout life and often behavioral abnormalities, with devastating impacts on patients and their families. Unfortunately, the condition is often not responsive to anticonvulsants. Now scientists report online June 20 in the Cell Press journal Neuron that targeting a particular signaling pathway in mice can prevent the development of temporal lobe epilepsy with just two weeks of treatment, offering hope that researchers will be able to develop effective drugs to mitigate recurrent seizures and the development of epilepsy.

21 Jun 2013

Researchers monitor dynamic cellular events that take place during cardiac regeneration in zebrafish

In a study published in the June 19 online edition of the journal Nature, a scientific team led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine visually monitored the dynamic cellular events that take place when cardiac regeneration occurs in zebrafish after cardiac ventricular injury. Their findings provide evidence that various cell lines in the heart are more plastic, or capable of transformation into new cell types, than previously thought.

20 Jun 2013

Signaling pathway correlates with EGFR status and poor survival in breast cancer patients

Researchers have discovered and mapped the signaling network between two previously unconnected proteins, exposing a link that, if broken, could cut off cancer cell growth at its starting point.

19 Jun 2013