Cell Proliferation News and Research

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Researchers identify new virus that plays role in rare type of liver cancer

More than a cause of a simple infection, viruses are often involved in the development of serious diseases. Such is the case with liver cancer, which often develops in an organ that has been weakened by hepatitis B or C virus.

28 Aug 2015

HPPI commences enrollment for Phase II(b) SCORING clinical trial for cancer treatment

HedgePath Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and plans to commercialize innovative therapeutics for patients with cancer, announced today enrollment has commenced in its Phase II(b) SCORING (SUBA-Cap Objective Response in Gorlin's) clinical trial.

23 Aug 2015

Researchers describe central role of mTOR in ageing and age-related diseases

For some, TOR may bring to mind a Celtic mountain or perhaps an Internet privacy group. In the world of molecular biology it's a cellular pathway that's found in everything from yeast to mammals.

18 Aug 2015

Prion protein could play a role in depression

The discovery of antidepressant drugs in the 1950s led to the first biochemical hypothesis of depression, known as the monoamine hypothesis. This hypothesis proposes that an imbalance of certain brain chemicals is the key cause of depression.

14 Aug 2015

FGF protein may play key role in breast and prostate cancer, shows research

Simply put, cancer is caused by mutations to genes within a cell that lead to abnormal cell growth. Finding out what causes that genetic mutation has been the holy grail of medical science for decades.

13 Aug 2015

Penn researchers identify major genetic factor that keeps moles in non-cancerous, no-growth state

Moles are benign tumors found on the skin of almost every adult. Scientists have known for years that a mutation in the BRAF gene makes them start growing, but until now haven't understood why they stop. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a major genetic factor that keeps moles in their usual non-cancerous, no-growth state.

6 Aug 2015

Study demonstrates significance of EMT as potential therapeutic target for reversing kidney disease

Adults who are worried or terrified sometimes curl up into a fetal position. Likewise, adult cells that are injured, including genetic injury leading to cancer, initiate a process that was present during embryonic development.

4 Aug 2015

Stress responder plays critical, early step in repairing DNA damage

DNA damage increases the risk of cancer, and researchers have found that a protein, known to rally when cells get stressed, plays a critical, early step in its repair.

4 Aug 2015

Balancing cellular aging and cancer risk through biotechnology

In a way, trying to repair age-related heart damage and trying to fight cancer are opposite problems. Your heart cells' ability to regenerate themselves and proliferate into new, young cells degrades as you get older.

30 Jul 2015

LMU researchers reveal role of mutations in development of Ewing's sarcoma

Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich have elucidated at the molecular level how an otherwise innocuous inherited mutation that is quite common in European populations interacts with a spontaneous somatic mutation to promote the development of Ewing's sarcoma.

28 Jul 2015

Protein imbalances within cells can cause ovarian cancer

Cancer can be caused solely by protein imbalances within cells, a study of ovarian cancer has found. The discovery is a major breakthrough because, until now, genetic aberrations have been seen as the main cause of almost all cancer.

28 Jul 2015

BUSM investigators receive MRA's Jackie King Young Investigator Awards

Boston University School of Medicine researchers Neil Joseph Ganem, PhD and Anurag Singh, PhD, each have received the Jackie King Young Investigator Awards from the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), the largest private funder of melanoma research. Both serve as assistant professors of pharmacology & experimental therapeutics and medicine.

17 Jul 2015

Study offers new way to suppress growth factors related to cancer cell proliferation

Cancer cells need life-essential molecules to proliferate. These so-called growth factors are activated by ectodomain shedding of precursor proteins on the outside of the plasma membrane, mainly carried out by three human cleavage enzymes. A pharmaceutical blocking of these enzymes could hinder cancer from growing but would also inhibit other life-essential processes.

13 Jul 2015

Researchers discover molecule that may favour production of induced pluripotent cells

Since 2006, research has succeeded in generating, from specialised adult cells, induced pluripotent cells (iPS cells), with huge potential applications, particularly for regenerative medicine. However, the process has still not been completely mastered. Two teams of researchers from Inserm, CNRS, Centre Léon Bérard and Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University have discovered a molecule that may favour the production of these induced stem cells.

9 Jul 2015

Review article provides in depth survey of studies focusing on retinoblastoma protein's role in apoptosis

Retinoblastoma protein RB1, which is named after a form of pediatric tumor of the eye, is among the most common genetically regulated cellular proteins to malfunction in human cancer. RB1 was also the first tumor suppressor gene to be identified and its modes of inactivation in retinoblastoma tumors provided the basis for the ground-breaking two-hit hypothesis by the geneticist Alfred G. Knudson in the 70s, according to which cancer is due to the accumulation of multiple 'hits' or mutations in certain genes.

3 Jul 2015

New species of tRNA-derived small RNAs contribute to cell proliferation in cancer

Since their discovery in the 1950s, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) have been best known for their role in helping the cell make proteins from messenger RNA templates. However, recent studies have led to a previously-unsuspected concept that tRNAs are not always the end product; namely, they further serve as a source of small RNAs.

30 Jun 2015

Wistar Institute study shows that PI3K inhibitors may make a patient's cancer even worse

The enzyme phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) appears to be exploited in almost every type of human cancer, making it the focus of considerable interest as a therapeutic target, with many PI3K-inhibiting drugs currently in various stages of clinical development. However, PI3K inhibitors have only shown modest clinical activity with patients who receive these drugs experiencing very little improvement in survival.

30 Jun 2015

Discovery sheds light on how the Hippo pathway maintains cellular balance

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a self-regulating loop in the Hippo pathway, a signaling channel garnering increased attention from cancer researchers due to its role in controlling organ size, cell proliferation and cell death.

27 Jun 2015

EPFL scientists show how a major effector protein binds chromatin and regulates gene expression

Inside the cell, DNA is tightly coiled and packed with several proteins into a structure called "chromatin", which allows DNA to fit in the cell while also preventing genes from being expressed at the wrong time. Guided by a chemical "barcode", specialized effector proteins can bind chromatin and either unwind it or compact further to activate or silence genes.

18 Jun 2015

MGH researchers develop new approach to skin rejuvenation

A new approach to skin rejuvenation developed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) may be less likely to have unintended side effects such as scarring and altered pigmentation.