Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Sirna Therapeutics granted new UK patents

Sirna Therapeutics has announced that the United Kingdom (UK) Patent Office has granted the Company two additional short interfering RNA (siRNA) target patents. The first patent covers any siRNA with one or more chemical modifications targeting Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF).

12 Jul 2005

Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) offers clues to SIDS, sleep apnea

Imagine raising a child who stops breathing when falling asleep - and has to be reminded to visit the bathroom after drinking a Big Gulp. That's the dilemma faced by parents of children born with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS).

11 Jul 2005

Discovery of protein deficit that causes drug toxicity

Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered an inherited structural mechanism that can make drugs for some diseases toxic for some patients.

11 Jul 2005

Lorenzo's oil prevents onset of pediatric neurological disorder

Use of Lorenzo's Oil in young boys who have been diagnosed with but are not yet showing signs of a pediatric neurological disorder known as X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) may prevent the disease from developing in the body. According to a study of male children published today in the Archives of Neurology, use of the oil prevented onset of the disease in a majority of cases.

11 Jul 2005

Researchers have discovered how p16 gene works

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered how a gene that suppresses the development of melanoma and other human cancers works. The study points the way to treatments based on the function of the gene.

11 Jul 2005

Newly discovered gene mutation may account for many cases of immune deficiency

...in particular two syndromes known as immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency and Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID), report researchers in the July issue of Nature Genetics. The discovery may lead to a new diagnostic test for these conditions, which make people highly susceptible to infections and often go unrecognized because of a lack of good tests.

11 Jul 2005

Research explains one of the fundamental mysteries of multiple sclerosis

Scientists have pinpointed a chemical messenger that frees some white blood cells from the body's normal constraints, allowing the cells to act like renegades that could damage nerves in the central nervous system. The work, to be published in the July 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology and just published on-line, helps explain one of the fundamental mysteries of multiple sclerosis (MS).

11 Jul 2005

Identical twins lose some fundamental similarities as they grow older

...a new study reports. They may start to look and act less alike. The changes could leave one twin susceptible to diseases like cancer, while the other twin remains healthy.

11 Jul 2005

New approach to preventing or reversing heart failure

Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified a new protein that plays a critical role in enabling the heart to respond to such external stimuli as exercise or stress, as well as in the progressive loss of heart function that is heart failure, the researchers said.

11 Jul 2005

Genes decide the shape you're in!

According to a study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of identical twins, the reason why some people can eat all the chocolate and chips they want and not increase their cholesterol levels, is all down to their genes.

11 Jul 2005

Researchers clarifiy role of Notch protein in T-cell development

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have recently clarified the role of the Notch protein in T-cell development. T cells are required for many aspects of immunity, including fighting viral infections, providing cancer surveillance, and regulating multiple aspects of the immune response.

6 Jul 2005

Researchers discover sections of the chromosomes of lung cancer cells where cancer-related genes may lurk

With equipment designed to probe the smallest segments of the genetic code, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and collaborating institutions have found something much larger: sections of the chromosomes of lung cancer cells where cancer-related genes may lurk.

6 Jul 2005

Researchers have discovered a key regulatory molecule for Huntington's disease

Researchers have discovered a key regulatory molecule whose overactivation by the abnormal protein produced in Huntington's disease (HD) causes the central pathologies of the disease.

6 Jul 2005

Tourette's and obsessive compulsive disorders linked to strep throat

A new study is suggesting that Strep throat infections can triple a child's risk of developing compulsive behaviors or tics, an indication that the same antibodies that attack the infection may also damage brain cells.

6 Jul 2005

Why cervical precancers disappear in some women and not in others

New research sheds light on why cervical precancers disappear in some women and not in others. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report in the July 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research that the reason many of these lesions persist is an unlikely mix of human papilloma virus (HPV) strain and a woman's individual immune system.

6 Jul 2005

Functional analysis of human hematopoietic stem cell gene expression using zebrafish

What do you get when you mix RNA chips and zebrafish? A new two-stage method for studying human gene expression differs in human stem cells and progenitor cells, according to a new article in the open access journal PLoS Biology.

6 Jul 2005

Cancer cells may be able to avoid destruction by anti-vascular and anti-angiogenesis agents

Cancer cells may be able to avoid destruction by anti-vascular and anti-angiogenesis agents through a cellular stress response that activates a pro-survival protein called GRP78, according to researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

6 Jul 2005