Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society announces launch of new partnership to empower people with lymphoma

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society together with the Lymphoma Research Foundation, CancerCare, the Association of Community Cancer Centers and Genentech announced the launch of a new partnership, the Alliance for Resource Collaboration in Hematology (ARCH).

10 Feb 2015

TAU researchers identify novel genetic mutation as source of specific rare disease

Rare diseases -- those that affect fewer than one in 200,000 people -- are often identified early in life. Some 30 percent of children afflicted by these "orphan diseases" do not live to see their fifth birthday. While the U.S. Orphan Drug Act of 1983 was written into law to promote research on the topic, the cost of identifying the source and progression of these diseases remains prohibitive for many families.

10 Feb 2015

Researchers identify axitinib as promising candidate to treat drug-resistant leukaemia

A study led by researchers at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM and Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University Central Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, in close collaboration with researchers at Pfizer, has identified a previously unrecognized action of Pfizer's axitinib as a potent inhibitor of the dominant mutation that confers drug resistance to all well tolerated treatments in patients with certain types of leukemia.

10 Feb 2015

New research provides hope for treating stroke using HUCBCs

Researchers have known that transplanted human umbilical cord cells (HUCBCs) can have a restorative effect on the brain and brain function following a stroke. However, just how the cells exert their therapeutic effects has not been clear. Now, a research team from the University of South Florida using animal models of stroke has found that the HUCBCs are most beneficial in preventing neuron loss when the Akt signaling pathway is activated by secretions from the HUCBCs and that Akt activation subsequently impacts a specific gene involved in reducing inflammation.

10 Feb 2015

Japanese researchers explore use of bone marrow transplants to treat hypophosphatasia

Recent research carried out by a team of researchers in Japan has investigated the use of bone marrow transplants (BMTs) to treat hypophosphatasia (HPP). In this study, the researchers carried out BMT for two infants with HPP in combination with allogenic (other-donated) mesenchymal stem cell transplants (MSCTs). The allogenic MSC donors were a parent of the infant.

10 Feb 2015

Quest Diagnostics, Myriad Genetics reach agreement to end BRCA gene-patent litigation

Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, today announced that it and Myriad Genetics Inc. have reached an agreement that ends their BRCA gene-patent litigation.

From Quest Diagnostics 10 Feb 2015

Roche announces acquisition of Signature Diagnostics

Roche announced today the acquisition of Signature Diagnostics AG, a privately held company based in Potsdam, Germany. Signature is a translational oncology and genomics company that develops large blood plasma and tissue biobanks in multiple cancers, including colorectal and lung, which are constructed from multicenter prospective clinical studies.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 10 Feb 2015

Scientists find that collagen 'cross-links' can determine tumor's ability to grow and spread

When skyscrapers go up, contractors rely on an infrastructure of steel beams and braces. Some cancers grow the same way, using a biological matrix from which the tumor can thrive and spread.

10 Feb 2015

Researchers discover inherited genetic variations associated with treatment-related hearing loss

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators have discovered inherited genetic variations that are associated with rapid hearing loss in young cancer patients treated with the drug cisplatin. The research appears in the current online issue of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

10 Feb 2015

Study links previously unknown genetic anomalies to breast cancer in African American family members

The "Jewels in our Genes" study, led by University at Buffalo researcher Heather Ochs-Balcom, has uncovered previously unknown segments of DNA shared by African American family members who have breast cancer. "The discovery of these regions supports our hypothesis that there are still undiscovered breast cancer genes that may be unique to African Americans," says Ochs-Balcom, PhD, a genetic epidemiologist in the UB Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health.

10 Feb 2015

Combination therapies may overcome resistance to targeted cancer drugs

A protein called YAP, which drives the growth of organs during development and regulates their size in adulthood, plays a key role in the emergence of resistance to targeted cancer therapies, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco researchers.

10 Feb 2015

Duke University researchers devise new method to activate genes with light

Duke University researchers have devised a method to activate genes in any specific location or pattern in a lab dish with the flip of a light switch by crossing a bacterium's viral defense system with a flower's response to sunlight.

9 Feb 2015

Researchers develop quality assurance tool for genome editing

A research team at Boston Children's Hospital's Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine has developed a quality assurance tool for scientists using genome-editing technologies like the increasingly popular CRISPR. The assay, called high throughput genome translocation sequencing (HTGTS), rapidly gauges—for any given gene—these technologies' accuracy and their risk for causing potentially dangerous genomic collateral damage.

9 Feb 2015

Regulus Therapeutics reports top-line results from RG-101 clinical study for HCV treatment

Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of innovative medicines targeting microRNAs, today announced top-line results from the 4 mg/kg cohort and additional results from the 2 mg/kg cohort in a completed clinical study evaluating RG-101, a wholly-owned, GalNac-conjugated anti-miR targeting microRNA-122 ("miR-122"), for the treatment of hepatitis C virus infection ("HCV").

9 Feb 2015

Preclinical testing of anti-Ebola antibodies can lead to universal flu vaccine

Does the blood of Ebola virus disease survivors contain antibodies and immune cells that could help doctors fight Ebola infections in other people?

9 Feb 2015

Study explores cost-effectiveness of targeted treatment for cancer

Health economics helps insurers, health care systems and providers make treatment decisions based on the cost of extra "units" of health arising from a specific treatment.

9 Feb 2015

New study sheds light on anorexia nervosa

A study led by Howard Steiger, PhD, head of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute Eating Disorders Program, in Montreal, in collaboration with Linda Booij, a researcher with Sainte-Justine Hospital and an assistant professor at Queen's University, is the first to observe effects suggesting that the longer one suffers from active anorexia nervosa (AN), the more likely they are to show disorder-relevant alterations in DNA methylation.

9 Feb 2015

DNA strands predict life expectancy

BYU biologist Jonathan Alder has a startling secret he doesn't freely share: he knows when most of us are going to die.

9 Feb 2015

New study heightens concerns over the detrimental impact of APOE ε4 in urban children

A new study by researchers at the Universities of Montana, Carleton, and North Carolina, and the Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, heightens concerns over the detrimental impact of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele -- the most prevalent genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease -- upon cognition, olfaction, and metabolic brain indices in healthy urban children and teens.

9 Feb 2015

Investigators develop microbiome map of New York City subway system

The microbes that call the New York City subway system home are mostly harmless, but include samples of disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to drugs -- and even DNA fragments associated with anthrax and Bubonic plague -- according to a citywide microbiome map published today by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators.

9 Feb 2015

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society announces launch of new partnership to empower people with lymphoma

TAU researchers identify novel genetic mutation as source of specific rare disease

Researchers identify axitinib as promising candidate to treat drug-resistant leukaemia

New research provides hope for treating stroke using HUCBCs

Japanese researchers explore use of bone marrow transplants to treat hypophosphatasia

Quest Diagnostics, Myriad Genetics reach agreement to end BRCA gene-patent litigation

Roche announces acquisition of Signature Diagnostics

Scientists find that collagen 'cross-links' can determine tumor's ability to grow and spread

Researchers discover inherited genetic variations associated with treatment-related hearing loss

Study links previously unknown genetic anomalies to breast cancer in African American family members

Combination therapies may overcome resistance to targeted cancer drugs

Duke University researchers devise new method to activate genes with light

Researchers develop quality assurance tool for genome editing

Regulus Therapeutics reports top-line results from RG-101 clinical study for HCV treatment

Preclinical testing of anti-Ebola antibodies can lead to universal flu vaccine

Study explores cost-effectiveness of targeted treatment for cancer

New study sheds light on anorexia nervosa

DNA strands predict life expectancy

New study heightens concerns over the detrimental impact of APOE ε4 in urban children

Investigators develop microbiome map of New York City subway system

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