Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Brain protein plays key role in controlling binge drinking

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that a brain protein has a key role in controlling binge drinking in animal models. They found that deleting the gene for this protein in mice ramped up alcohol consumption and prevented the brain from signaling the rewarding properties of alcohol.

12 May 2015

Researchers identify three genes involved in choroid plexus carcinoma

Researchers have identified three genes that play a pivotal role in the brain tumor choroid plexus carcinoma (CPC), a discovery that lays the groundwork for more effective treatment of this rare, often fatal cancer. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists led the study, which appears today in the journal Cancer Cell.

12 May 2015

MD Anderson researchers discover link between telomere degeneration and MDS

A study revealing fresh insight about chromosome "tails" called telomeres may provide scientists with a new way to look at developing treatments or even preventing a group of blood cell disorders known as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

12 May 2015

Study: Disrupting cancer pathway could extend benefits of new immunity-boosting drugs

Understanding how to overrule a signaling pathway that can cause treatments to fail in metastatic melanoma patients should help physicians extend the benefits of recently approved immunity-boosting drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors to more patients.

12 May 2015

DNMT1 gene essential to maintain breast and cancer stem cells

The gene and hormone soup that enables women to breastfeed their newborns also can be a recipe for breast cancer, particularly when the first pregnancy is after age 30.

12 May 2015

World renowned surgeon evaluates parallels between Prostate cancer, Breast cancer

World renowned robotic prostate cancer surgeon, Dr. David Samadi, evaluates the parallels between Prostate cancer and Breast cancer. Prostate cancer is just as common in men as breast cancer is in women with over 233,000 cases diagnosed each year.

12 May 2015

Experimental gene therapy holds promise against metastatic prostate cancer

Even with the best available treatments, the median survival of patients with metastatic, hormone-refractory prostate cancer is only two to three years. Driven by the need for more effective therapies for these patients, researchers at VCU Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine have developed a unique approach that uses microscopic gas bubbles to deliver directly to the cancer a viral gene therapy in combination with an experimental drug that targets a specific gene driving the cancer's growth.

12 May 2015

Immune system plays surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome

New research by investigators at the University of Massachusetts Medical School suggests the immune system plays an unsuspected and surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome, a severe neurological disorder affecting children. Immune cells known as macrophages are unable to perform their normal function and are instead amplifying the disease.

11 May 2015

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's joins immunotherapy clinical trial for children with ALL

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center has joined a clinical trial of immunotherapy for children with relapsed or treatment-resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the trial is one of several nationally that are evaluating cancer immunotherapy, a treatment approach -- hailed by Science magazine as their Breakthrough of the Year in 2013 -- that triggers a patient's immune system to attack his or her cancer cells.

11 May 2015

Scientists identify gene that causes hereditary hypertension and brachydactyly type E

Individuals with this altered gene have hereditary hypertension (high blood pressure) and at the same time a skeletal malformation called brachydactyly type E, which is characterized by unusually short fingers and toes. The effect on blood pressure is so serious that -- if left untreated -- it most often leads to death before age fifty.

11 May 2015

Walnut-enriched diet may slow colorectal tumor growth

A new animal study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, led by Dr. Christos Mantzoros, indicates that a diet containing walnuts may slow colorectal tumor growth by causing beneficial changes in cancer genes.

11 May 2015

MJFF announces acquisition of parkin research tools from Imago Pharmaceuticals

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research announces the acquisition of a library of research tools around the parkin protein from Imago Pharmaceuticals. The Foundation believes these tools — cell lines, plasmids, compounds and more — will accelerate biological study and drug development against this promising disease-modification target.

11 May 2015

Raising lupus awareness: an interview with Professor Ramsey-Goldman, MD

Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease, with many different symptoms so it is hard to diagnose. It affects each person differently and it has an unpredictable disease course with flare ups and quiet time. Some patients describe lupus as if they are riding a roller coaster with blinders on because they cannot always tell when they will feel well or sick...

11 May 2015

Southern Indiana to be oasis free from Lyme disease, finds Indiana University researcher

Over nearly 15 years spent studying ticks, Indiana University's Keith Clay has found southern Indiana to be an oasis free from Lyme disease, the condition most associated with these arachnids that are the second most common parasitic disease vector on Earth.

11 May 2015

Research findings could lead to new targeted treatments for aggressive subtype of lymphoma

An international team of researchers, including Lukas Kenner from the Clinical Department of Pathology at MedUni Vienna, has discovered a specific combination of mutations and new gene fusions, which are heavily implicated in tumour growth in patients with a particularly aggressive subtype of lymphoma (ALCL).

11 May 2015

Roche announces FDA approval of cobas KRAS Mutation Test for diagnostic use

Roche today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the cobas KRAS Mutation Test for diagnostic use. The real-time PCR test is designed to identify KRAS mutations in tumor samples from metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients and aid clinicians in determining a therapeutic path for them.

11 May 2015

Study sheds light on developing more targeted therapies against medulloblastoma

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have gained ground toward developing more targeted therapies for the most common childhood brain tumor.

10 May 2015

Researchers identify promising combination strategy for treating glioblastomas

Therapies that specifically target mutations in a person's cancer have been much-heralded in recent years, yet cancer cells often find a way around them. To address this, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center identified a promising combinatorial approach to treating glioblastomas, the most common form of primary brain cancer.

10 May 2015

Gene expression is key to understanding differences between individuals and predisposition to disease

The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project consortia, which includes scientists from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, have now published their results from their first pilot study in three Science papers...

8 May 2015

GenVec reports net loss of $1.5 million for first quarter 2015

GenVec, Inc. today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015. For the three months ended March 31, 2015, GenVec reported a net loss of $1.5 million, or $0.09 per share, on revenues of $0.4 million, compared with a net loss of $1.0 million, or $0.07 per share, on revenues of $2.1 million, for the same period in the prior year.

8 May 2015

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Brain protein plays key role in controlling binge drinking

Researchers identify three genes involved in choroid plexus carcinoma

MD Anderson researchers discover link between telomere degeneration and MDS

Study: Disrupting cancer pathway could extend benefits of new immunity-boosting drugs

DNMT1 gene essential to maintain breast and cancer stem cells

World renowned surgeon evaluates parallels between Prostate cancer, Breast cancer

Experimental gene therapy holds promise against metastatic prostate cancer

Immune system plays surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's joins immunotherapy clinical trial for children with ALL

Scientists identify gene that causes hereditary hypertension and brachydactyly type E

Walnut-enriched diet may slow colorectal tumor growth

MJFF announces acquisition of parkin research tools from Imago Pharmaceuticals

Raising lupus awareness: an interview with Professor Ramsey-Goldman, MD

Southern Indiana to be oasis free from Lyme disease, finds Indiana University researcher

Research findings could lead to new targeted treatments for aggressive subtype of lymphoma

Roche announces FDA approval of cobas KRAS Mutation Test for diagnostic use

Study sheds light on developing more targeted therapies against medulloblastoma

Researchers identify promising combination strategy for treating glioblastomas

Gene expression is key to understanding differences between individuals and predisposition to disease

GenVec reports net loss of $1.5 million for first quarter 2015

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