Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

How and why people become addicted to alcohol

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified several genetic changes in the brains of mice caused by ethanol, which may help researchers better understand how and why people become addicted to alcohol.

2 Mar 2005

Study describes the first known mutation to occur in lung cancer patients who have never smoked

Lung cancer patients who have never smoked are more likely than smokers to harbor one of two genetic mutations that researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have now linked to the disease.

1 Mar 2005

U.S. cancer researchers launch first American-Israeli cancer conference

Leading cancer researchers from Baltimore, Miami and New Jersey have organized the first Joint American-Israeli Conference on Cancer. The meeting, scheduled for March 16 through 18 in Jerusalem, seeks to foster collaboration among physicians and scientists in the two countries.

1 Mar 2005

Scientists re-produce the human body's own cancer-killing cells through gene therapy

New hope to cancer sufferers comes from research by South Korean scientists who have found a way to re- produce the human body's own cancer-killing cells through gene therapy.

1 Mar 2005

Cells can regenerate without becoming "younger"

It has long been thought that cells that regenerate tissue do so by regressing to a developmentally younger state. Now two University of Washington researchers have demonstrated that cells can regenerate without becoming "younger."

1 Mar 2005

VIRxSYS novel HIV gene therapy yields exciting results

VIRxSYS Corporation reports unexpected and unprecedented findings in its ongoing Phase I clinical trial of its VRX496 therapy in patients with HIV.

28 Feb 2005

Discovery of a protein JBP2, an important tool for African sleeping sickness research

Sixty million people in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa are threatened daily by a deadly parasitic disease known as African sleeping sickness.

28 Feb 2005

Protein to protein interaction map for a better insight in cancer development

With the completion of the genome sequence of a number of organisms, analysis of the gene products, the proteins, is the on-going challenge.

28 Feb 2005

Fear of botulism as a bioterrorist weapon is to be reduced by British vaccine technology

Fear of botulism as a bioterrorist weapon is to be reduced, as the US government announces its support for a new British vaccine technology, which promises for the first time to provide an effective defence against botulism – the most deadly naturally occurring substance.

28 Feb 2005

Up to 500,000 Americans will develop lupus-related kidney disease

According to the Lupus Foundation of America, an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Americans with the autoimmune disease lupus eventually will develop lupus-related kidney disease, known as lupus nephritis. Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious manifestations of lupus and can lead to serious health problems, kidney failure, disability or death.

27 Feb 2005

Caution against FDA approval of race-based pharmaceutical

New York University Sociologist Troy Duster concludes that a pharmaceutical to combat heart disease among blacks is based on faulty research and urges the Food and Drug Administration to obtain more reliable data before approving the drug.

27 Feb 2005

Novel mutation in the recently identified LRRK2 gene causes parkinsonism

Neuroscientists at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., leading a team of researchers in the United States and Europe, have discovered that a novel mutation in the recently identified LRRK2 gene causes parkinsonism in several North American and European families.

27 Feb 2005

Importance of Fbw7 as an emerging tumor suppressor

The DNA tumor virus simian virus 40 produces the Large T antigen which inactivates two of the cell's most important cancer-preventing proteins, p53 and pRb.

27 Feb 2005

Early Alzheimer's disease may be precipitated by a neuron traffic jam

Early Alzheimer's disease may be precipitated by a “traffic jam” within neurons that causes swelling and prevents proper transport of proteins and structures in the cells, according to new studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers.

27 Feb 2005

Differences in how HIV virus infects males and females

A genetic analysis of viral RNA from 10 heterosexual couples, in which one partner has sexually transmitted HIV to the other, provides the first documentation of some differences in how the virus infects males and females.

27 Feb 2005

Common epigenetic problem doubles cancer risk

In experiments with mice, a team of scientists from the United States, Sweden and Japan has discovered that having a double dose of one protein is sufficient to change the normal balance of cells within the lining of the colon, thereby doubling the risk that a cancer-causing genetic mutation will trigger a tumor there.

27 Feb 2005

Genzyme begins gene transfer trial for peripheral arterial disease

Genzyme Corporation announced today that the first patient has been treated in a new phase 2 clinical trial examining the safety and effectiveness of locally delivered gene transfer for patients with peripheral arterial disease.

24 Feb 2005

Scientists have regenerated a damaged optic nerve

This achievement, which occurred in laboratory mice and is described in the March 1, 2005 issue of the Journal of Cell Science, holds great promise for victims of diseases that destroy the optic nerve, and for sufferers of central nervous system injuries.

24 Feb 2005

Protein called CK2 plays a deadly role in colorectal carcinoma

A protein called CK2 plays a deadly role in colorectal carcinoma by blocking the ability of these tumors to activate a natural self-destruct mechanism that would clear this cancer from the body. This finding, by researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, is currently published in the online edition of Oncogene.

24 Feb 2005

Cutting edge technology identifies genes that are involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease

Phoenix-Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Kronos Science Laboratories, an affiliate of Phoenix-based Kronos Optimal Health Company, have initiated a study with unprecedented power to identify genes that are involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of disabling memory and thinking problems in older persons.

24 Feb 2005