Protein News and Research

RSS

Proteins are complex molecules that are made up of amino acids. They can be found in every cell in the body, and carry out vital processes that keep human beings alive. Mutations in proteins can lead to a multitude of diseases, the most common being cancer.

Neuregulin 1 gene linked to schizophrenia

Scientists have provided new insight into how a gene is related to schizophrenia.

12 Aug 2007

Chromatin remodeling complex connected to DNA damage control

When molecular disaster strikes, causing structural damage to DNA, players in two important pathways talk to each other to help contain the wreckage, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the August edition of Cell.

12 Aug 2007

The skeleton is an endocrine organ

Bones are typically thought of as calcified, inert structures, but researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have now identified a surprising and critically important novel function of the skeleton.

11 Aug 2007

New pathway for inflammation-induced cancer

A well-known inflammatory protein spawns an enzyme that inactivates two tumor-suppressing genes, ultimately triggering production of new blood vessels to nourish breast cancer cells, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the August edition of the journal Cell .

11 Aug 2007

Scientists prepare for future pandemic strains of H5N1

Preparing vaccines and therapeutics that target a future mutant strain of H5N1 influenza virus sounds like science fiction, but it may be possible, according to a team of scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and a collaborator at Emory University School of Medicine.

11 Aug 2007

Gene regulation drives evolution

It is not just what's in your genes, it's how you turn them on that accounts for the difference between species , at least in yeast , according to a report by Yale researchers in this week's issue of Science.

11 Aug 2007

Protein-rich foods slow the deterioration of elderly people's muscles

Scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have good news for people who want to stay strong in their old age: older bodies are just as good as young ones at turning protein-rich food into muscle.

9 Aug 2007

Scientists find mechanisms controlling metastasis of breast cancer cells

When cancer cells dissociate from the original tumor and migrate via the blood stream to colonize distant organs, is the main cause of cancer death.

9 Aug 2007

Milk is the ideal post-workout drink for recreational exercisers and athletes

Part of an ongoing study into the impact of drinking milk after heavy weightlifting has found that milk helps exercisers burn more fat.

9 Aug 2007

Testosterone replacement therapy for men

For decades, older women have taken hormone replacements to replenish estrogen and progesterone levels lost to aging.

9 Aug 2007

Discussion on the explosive growth and the potential risks of drug-eluting stents

The Summer 2007 issue of The American Heart Hospital Journal explores one of the pivotal issues in cardiology, the drug-eluting stent (DES).

9 Aug 2007

Voluntary exercise induces sex-specific physiological cardiac remodeling

While cardiovascular disease occurs in both men and women, it does not affect them in the same way.

9 Aug 2007

New Alzheimer's drugs may help prevent glaucoma

British eye specialists have shown for the first time that key proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease are also implicated in glaucoma.

8 Aug 2007

Scientists produce functioning neurons from human embryonic stem cells

Scientists with the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA were able to produce from human embryonic stem cells a highly pure, large quantity of functioning neurons that will allow them to create models of and study diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, prefrontal dementia and schizophrenia.

8 Aug 2007

Bcl-3 protein regulates inflammation by blocking ubiquitination

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine recently identified how a regulatory protein called Bcl-3 helps to control the body's inflammation response to infection by interfering a critical biochemical process called ubiquitination.

8 Aug 2007

New way to treat Alzheimer's

A team of scientists led by professor Kiminobu Sugaya at the University of Central Florida may have found a new way to treat Alzheimer's disease.

7 Aug 2007

New research may lead to future gene therapies for patients with sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers studying hemoglobin genes, mutations of which play a role in genetic blood disorders like sickle cell anemia and beta-thalassemia, have identified two proteins that are responsible for regulating overlapping groups of genes during the development of red blood cells.

7 Aug 2007

New understanding of Leber congenital amaurosis

People suffering from a severe retinal disease will sooner or later lose their eyesight considerably or even become completely blind.

7 Aug 2007

Potential new biomarker for heart failure also strongly predicts risk of death

A potential new biomarker for heart failure may be more powerful than established measures in identifying patients at increased risk for death from several causes.

7 Aug 2007

Potential new ways to prevent smoking-related cellular damage

In the current issue of PLoS One, researchers show how a poorly understood and previously unsuspected mechanism may be the key to understanding how life-style associated forms of oxidative stress, such as exposure to cigarette smoke, damage cells in the lungs.

7 Aug 2007