Receptor News and Research

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Research has identified Dectin-1 as the beta-glucan receptor on immune cells

This finding may be of use in the prophylactic prevention of a variety of infections, especially in surgical patients, and in the treatment of cancer. The identification of Dectin-1 as the beta-glucan receptor may also provide a novel strategy for combating fungal infections.

10 Oct 2004

Research shows C. botulinum uses SONO to detect nitric oxide

A deadly bacterium's defense against a mortal molecular enemy illuminates the origins and structure of a vital protein involved in human cell signaling, University of Texas Medical School scientists report in Science Express.

8 Oct 2004

Cocaine addicts experience a decrease in D2 receptors affecting brain regions involved with movement, as well as motivation

A new study builds on previous research showing that cocaine-addicted people have a low expression of specific dopamine receptors—D2 receptors—in a portion of the brain called the striatum.

6 Oct 2004

Richard Axel has won the 2004 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine

Richard Axel of the Columbia University Medical Center has won the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Linda B. Buck of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for clarifying how the olfactory system works.

5 Oct 2004

Linda Buck has been named winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine

Linda Buck, Ph.D., a member of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Basic Sciences Division, has been named winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

5 Oct 2004

New technique offers efficient blood cleansing

Blood poisoning is fatal in almost half of all cases. Patients could be helped by efficient blood cleansing. Scientists are working on a new technique that will quickly and effectively retrieve toxic substances from the vital fluid without altering the blood count.

4 Oct 2004

High blood pressure can effect many life activities, including sex

Despite its seeming invisibility, high blood pressure is dangerous, even deadly. Its effects can linger throughout many life activities, including sex.

29 Sep 2004

Genetic abnormalities have a major impact on obesity

Abnormalities in the gene that regulates body weight have a "major" impact on the tendency to obesity, bumping up the body mass index (BMI) score, reveals research in the Journal of Medical Genetics.

29 Sep 2004

Researchers reveal potential new role for Glivec/Imatinib

Imatinib – or Glivec as it also known – looks as if it may become an effective treatment for yet another type of cancer.

28 Sep 2004

Marijuana use may increase the risk of ectopic (tubal) pregnancies

It is not known whether drugs that block or, in the case of marijuana, over-stimulate the CB1 receptor can cause ectopic pregnancy in humans. However, "our results raise caution for women of reproductive ages regarding the chronic use of marijuana for recreation or pain alleviation," the researchers concluded.

27 Sep 2004

Discovery of key molecular step which allows cancer cells to move to different parts of the body

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have figured out a key molecular step by which a cancer cell can unhook itself from the mesh weave of other cancer cells in a tumor, and move away to a different part of the body - the process, known as metastasis, that makes cancer so dangerous.

27 Sep 2004

Arsenic could be toxic at much lower levels than previously thought

Arsenic could be toxic at much lower levels than previously thought, suggesting that the new EPA drinking water standard of 10 parts per billion might still be too high, according to a team of researchers at Dartmouth Medical School.

26 Sep 2004

Low-dose infusion of ketamine completely relieves pain of complex regional pain syndrome

Limited, low-dose infusions of a widely used anesthetic drug may relieve the often intolerable and debilitating pain of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center researcher found.

23 Sep 2004

New combination of drugs results in fewer incidences of rejection in liver transplant patients

“The big advantage [of this combination of drugs] is that the incidence of rejection is significantly decreased,” he says. “These results could change the standard of care for liver transplant recipients.”

23 Sep 2004

Research may lead to alternatives to antibiotic drugs for treating bacterial diseases

UCLA microbiologists report the discovery of a new class of genetic elements, similar to retroviruses, that operate in bacteria, allowing them to diversify their proteins to bind to a large variety of receptors.

23 Sep 2004

Nanowires could be used to sense thousands of different viruses

Harvard University scientists have found that ultra-thin silicon wires can be used to electrically detect the presence of single viruses, in real time, with near-perfect selectivity.

22 Sep 2004

HER-2 cell surface receptors tun on genes associated with carcinogenesis

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center now have evidence that receptors found on tumors that were believed to function only on the surface of cells can actually switch on genes inside a cell's nucleus, thus promoting cancer development in two distinct ways.

21 Sep 2004

Discovery of dopamine terminal injury in brains of people with HIV dementia

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a key mechanism in the brains of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) dementia.

20 Sep 2004

New culprit behind the brain injury suffered by stroke victims

Researchers have uncovered a new culprit behind the brain injury suffered by stroke victims. Their new study, published in the Sept. 17 issue of Cell, links brain cell damage to a rise in brain acidity following the oxygen depletion, or ischemia, characteristic of stroke.

18 Sep 2004

ChemGenex discovers five new depression genes

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has filed for patent protection for a further five novel depression-associated gene targets discovered by its depression and anxiety research group.

16 Sep 2004