Receptor News and Research

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Cell-based sensor for analysis of EGFR biomarker expression in oral cancer

Using a microfluidic device designed to capture and enrich cells from biological samples, a research team at The University of Texas at Austin has developed a test that can detect an important early marker for oral squamous cell carcinoma, which accounts for more than 90 percent of oral cancers. Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and is difficult to detect early enough to treat successfully.

22 Aug 2007

Discovery of molecule in the intestine that can 'taste' the sugar content of the diet

Diabetes patients could benefit from new research at the University of Liverpool that has identified a molecule in the intestine that can 'taste' the sugar content of the diet.

21 Aug 2007

Specific antagonism lowers blood pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and the frequent use of drugs known as NSAIDs, for example to treat individuals with rheumatoid arthritis, can cause hypertension.

17 Aug 2007

Cannabis for allergic contact dermatitis

Administering a substance found in the cannabis plant can help the body's natural protective system alleviate an allergic skin disease (allergic contact dermatitis), an international group of researchers from Germany, Israel, Italy, Switzerland and the U.S. has found.

17 Aug 2007

Nicotinic receptors may be important targets for treatment of multiple addictions

For years, scientists have known that some people are biologically more susceptible to drug addiction than others, but they have only been able to speculate why.

17 Aug 2007

Mice use specialized neurons to detect carbon dioxide in the air

For mice, carbon dioxide often means danger - too many animals breathing in too small a space or a hungry predator exhaling nearby.

17 Aug 2007

Researchers discover how a protein modulates the inflammatory response in acute respiratory distress syndrome

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have discovered how a protein modulates the inflammatory response in sudden, life-threatening lung failure.

17 Aug 2007

Drop in breast cancer incidence linked to hormone use, not mammograms

A recent decline in breast cancer incidence is unlikely to be caused by a decrease in mammography screening, according to a study published online August 14 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

16 Aug 2007

Longer term effects of dementia drugs to be investigated

A £50,000 grant from the Alzheimer's Research Trust will look at whether ACE inhibitors used to treat Alzheimer's could have a longer term effect.

15 Aug 2007

Metabolic cell activity directly controls life and death decisions in cells

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that proteins known to promote cell death are also necessary for the maturation and proliferation of immune cells.

13 Aug 2007

Oestrogen research points to new class of analgesic drugs

Oestrogen plays an important role in determining how sensitive a person is to pain, and the oestrogen receptor known as ER-beta is particularly significant in this context.

13 Aug 2007

Discovery of new mechanism of resistance to endocrine or anti-hormonal therapies

When a woman receives a breast cancer diagnosis her entire life may change in the blink of an eye.

13 Aug 2007

Impaired energy production in heart muscle may underlie heart failure in some hypertensive patients

Many people with long-standing high blood pressure develop heart failure. But some don't. Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., and colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other institutions are trying to figure out what could explain that difference.

13 Aug 2007

Diovan (valsartan) granted pediatric exclusivity by FDA

Diovan (valsartan) has been granted pediatric exclusivity by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on studies conducted in children with high blood pressure.

13 Aug 2007

Scientists take plumber's approach to Alzheimer's

Scientists are trying a plumber's approach to rid the brain of the amyloid buildup that plagues Alzheimer's patients: Simply drain the toxic protein away.

13 Aug 2007

New molecular regulators of hyperthyroidism and goiter

The thyroid gland has an important role in determining how much energy the body burns.

12 Aug 2007

Impaired energy production in heart muscle may underlie heart failure in some hypertensive patients

Many people with long-standing high blood pressure develop heart failure.

12 Aug 2007

FGFR4 gene plays a complex role in obesity, fatty liver and diabetes

Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology at Houston have found that a gene in the liver and elsewhere in the body, when inhibited or increased, affects fatty liver and diabetes but does not alleviate both diseases at once.

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