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Mutated IDH1 gene has novel enzyme activity consistent with cancer-causing gene: Study

Agios Pharmaceuticals today announced that its scientists have established, for the first time, that the mutated IDH1 gene has a novel enzyme activity consistent with a cancer-causing gene, or oncogene. This breakthrough discovery shows that the mutated form of IDH1 produces a metabolite, 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG), which may contribute to the formation and malignant progression of gliomas, the most common type of brain cancers.

23 Nov 2009

RXi Pharmaceuticals receives prestigious Innovation of the Year Award

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company pursuing the development and commercialization of proprietary therapeutics based on RNA interference (RNAi), today reported that the Company has received Frost & Sullivan’s 2009 North American RNAi Therapeutic Design & Delivery Technology Innovation of the Year Award for the development of its proprietary RNAi compounds, rxRNA™, and advanced delivery approaches.

23 Nov 2009

New FluCide better than the older version

NanoViricides, Inc., announced today that Dr. Eugene Seymour, MD MPH, CEO of the Company, presented lifetime data from the recent FluCide™ animal study on November 19th at the Influenza Congress USA 2009 in Washington, DC (www.terrapinn.com/usaflu). These data clearly established that the new version of FluCide™ is superior to the older version.

23 Nov 2009

Cellular prion protein and epileptic seizures: researchers find new role

Cellular prion protein (PrPc) plays an essential role in maintaining neurotransmitter homeostasis in the central nervous system. This discovery has been made possible by the observation that both a deficiency and an excess of the protein have a considerable effect on this homeostasis.

23 Nov 2009

Foods rich in antioxidant substances could delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) researchers have confirmed that a diet rich in polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids, patented as an LMN diet, helps boost the production of the brain's stem cells -neurogenesis- and strengthens their differentiation in different types of neuron cells.

23 Nov 2009

Amniotic fluid stem cells have potential to become specialized cell types, say researchers

For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that stem cells found in amniotic fluid meet an important test of potential to become specialized cell types, which suggests they may be useful for treating a wider array of diseases and conditions than scientists originally thought.

23 Nov 2009

Overexpression of NCX1 does not by itself lead to contraction abnormalities in the heart

Researchers from the Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University have found that the overexpression of a sodium/calcium exchanger, without changes in other ion transport pathways commonly observed in heart failure, does not by itself lead to contraction abnormalities in the heart.

23 Nov 2009

Winship-led team identifies a way to exploit cancer cells' taste for glucose

The pedal-to-the-metal signals driving the growth of several types of cancer cells lead to a common switch governing the use of glucose, researchers at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have discovered.

23 Nov 2009

Study examines how dietary restriction and high-caloric diet influence biochemical responses

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine set out to address a question that has been challenging scientists for years: How do dietary restriction-and the reverse, overconsumption-produce protective effects against aging and disease?

23 Nov 2009

Complicated flow of cellular messages can lead to self-destruction of brain cells, says new study

Scientists at the Brain Research Centre, a partnership of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, have uncovered new information about the mechanism by which brain cells die following a stroke, as well as a possible way to mitigate that damage. The results of the study were recently published online in Nature Medicine.

23 Nov 2009

Gene deletion can increase common complication of bone marrow transplants

A commonly inherited gene deletion can increase the likelihood of immune complications following bone marrow transplantation, an international team of researchers reports in the November 22 advance online issue of Nature Genetics.

23 Nov 2009

New target may promote development of novel therapies for chronic sinusitis

A protein known to stimulate blood vessel growth has now been found to be responsible for the cell overgrowth in the development of polyps that characterize one of the most severe forms of sinusitis, a study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The finding gives scientists a new target for developing novel therapies to treat this form of the disease, which typically resists all current treatments.

23 Nov 2009

Experiments explain factors behind common malarial symptoms

When people have malaria, they are infected with Plasmodium parasites, which enter the body from the saliva of a mosquito, infect cells in the liver, and then spread to red blood cells. Inside the blood cells, the parasites replicate and also begin to expose adhesive proteins on the cell surface that change the physical nature of the cells in the bloodstream.

23 Nov 2009

Genes from same 'family' interact with each other to prevent skin cancer, says new study

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have shown, for the first time, how two genes from the same 'family' can interact with each other to stop cancer in its tracks - according to new findings published in Molecular Cell.

23 Nov 2009

Scientists discover new potential target for treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Physician-scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered a molecular mechanism that may prove to be a powerful target for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects lymphocytes, or white blood cells. By exploiting this mechanism, researchers have been able to powerfully suppress tumor formation in lab testing and in animal models.

22 Nov 2009

Bacteria help in preventing inflammation after skin injury

On the skin's surface, bacteria are abundant, diverse and constant, but inflammation is undesirable. Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now shows that the normal bacteria living on the skin surface trigger a pathway that prevents excessive inflammation after injury.

22 Nov 2009

Cancer promoting gene identified

Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine researchers have identified a gene that may play a pivotal role in two processes that are essential for tumor development, growth and progression to metastasis. Scientists hope the finding could lead to an effective therapy to target and inhibit the expression of this gene resulting in inhibition of cancer growth.

21 Nov 2009