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.

RNA essential for survival of mature neurons

There are lots of things that brain cells need to survive. Add to that list microRNAs.

19 Jul 2007

Keeping food cravings in check important for weight management

Accepting food cravings and keeping them in check may be an important component of weight management, according to findings from the first six-month phase of a calorie-restriction study conducted at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University.

19 Jul 2007

Protein kinase G holds promise for cancer treatment

An enzyme that cancer cells eliminate, apparently so they can keep proliferating, may hold clues to more targeted, effective cancer treatment, scientists say.

19 Jul 2007

Researchers identify gene-regulating protein in the brain that triggers ability to cope with

Researchers have identified a gene-regulating protein in the brains of mice that triggers the animals' ability to cope with the "behavioral despair" caused by inescapable stress.

19 Jul 2007

Plumber protein uses different tools to turn on genes

St. Jude investigators have discovered how a single molecular "on switch" triggers gene activity that might cause effects ranging from learning and memory capabilities to glucose production in the liver.

18 Jul 2007

Test of universal influenza vaccine

A universal influenza vaccine that has been pioneered by researchers from VIB and Ghent University is being tested for the first time on humans by the British-American biotech company Acambis.

18 Jul 2007

Obesity and asthma often go together

Scientists in Britain say they have discovered a link between obesity and asthma and they believe the connection may explain why overweight people are up to twice as likely to develop the respiratory condition.

17 Jul 2007

Protein km23 - potential target for ovarian cancer treatment

A traffic cop protein in the cell may have an even more important role: transporting a messenger protein that tells components in the nucleus to stop cell growth.

17 Jul 2007

Researchers identify new combination therapy that promotes cancer cell death

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine identified a combination therapy as a way to sensitize resistant human cancer cells to a treatment currently being tested in clinical trials They propose that the therapy may help to selectively eliminate cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact, providing a cancer treatment with fewer side effects.

17 Jul 2007

C-reactive protein may indicate cognitive impairment in children with obstructive sleep apnea

C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation that is often used to detect cardiovascular disease, may also indicate cognitive impairment in children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a new study of children ages 5 to 7.

17 Jul 2007

Structural basis for synthesis of inflammatory mediators by human leukotriene C4 synthase

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have managed to elucidate the crystal structure of a human membrane protein - LTC4 synthase - which has a major influence on the development of asthma.

17 Jul 2007

Key mechanism to emergence of deadly strep bacteria discovered

The incidence of serious strep infections has risen dramatically in the last three decades, and this increase is largely attributed to the spread around the globe of a single strain of strep known as the invasive M1T1 clone.

16 Jul 2007

Interleukin-6 - new target in the battle against Ras-induced cancers

In an upcoming Genes & Development paper, Dr. Christopher Counter and colleagues at the Duke University Medical Center have identified IL6 as a new target in the battle against Ras-induced cancers.

16 Jul 2007

Discovery of molecular mechanism behind fear

Researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have uncovered a molecular mechanism that governs the formation of fears stemming from traumatic events.

16 Jul 2007

Researchers determine structure of protein from pathogen associated with cystic fibrosis

The structure of a novel protein in the bacterium that is the most persistent pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients has been solved.

16 Jul 2007

New gene found for type 1 diabetes in children

Pediatrics researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and McGill University in Montreal have identified a gene variant that raises a child's risk for type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes.

16 Jul 2007

Chromosome glue repairs damaged DNA

When a strand of DNA breaks in the body's cells, it normally does not take long until it has been repaired.

16 Jul 2007

Src inhibitors may prove beneficial in breast cancer therapy

Estrogen, which binds estrogen receptor alpha (ER-alpha), is a risk factor for breast cancer development.

13 Jul 2007

Discovery of one important function of junk DNA

Scientists have only recently begun to speculate that what's referred to as junk DNA , the 96 percent of the human genome that doesn't encode for proteins and previously seemed to have no useful purpose , is present in the genome for an important reason.

13 Jul 2007

New target for muscular dystrophy drug therapy

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report how the gene for utrophin, which codes for a protein very similar to dystrophin, the defective protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), puts the brakes on its own expression in muscle cells, thereby suggesting a new target for treatment.

13 Jul 2007