Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Study: Notch 1 signaling activated in abdominal aortic aneurysmal tissue

A gene known to be involved in cancer and cardiovascular development may be the cause of inflammation in the most common form of aortic aneurysm and may be a key to treatment, according to research from Nationwide Children's Hospital.

25 Oct 2012

Two papers connect lncRNAs to inherited conditions in humans

LncRNAs are long non-coding RNAs that are emerging as important regulators of gene expression in biological processes and diseases. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, two papers connect lncRNAs to inherited conditions in humans.

25 Oct 2012

New method of testing for West Nile virus

While the United States has largely been spared the scourge of mosquito-borne diseases endemic to the developing world-including yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever-mosquito-related illnesses in the US are on the rise. One pathogen of increasing concern in the U.S. is an arbovirus known as West Nile.

24 Oct 2012

Pleiotrophin protein may be long-sought growth factor for blood stem cells

Duke Medicine researchers studying the interaction of blood stem cells and the niche where they reside have identified a protein that may be a long-sought growth factor for blood stem cells.

24 Oct 2012

Study to examine possible link between mitochondrial DNA and ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is a deadly disease. With no overt symptoms and no screening tests to catch it early, ovarian cancer is often detected at stage 3 or later. By then, it can be very aggressive and may have spread beyond the ovaries into other organs. Many women eventually succumb to it; the five-year survival rate for a stage 3 ovarian cancer diagnosis is only 34 percent.

24 Oct 2012

Weill Cornell’s ChiP now accepts applications for new master's program in health informatics

Informatics is integral to solving the nation's urgent healthcare issues of rising costs and the delivery of quality care. Training the next generation of professionals to develop, implement and research new informatics technologies is vital. Through the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, the Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy (CHiP) is now accepting applications for a new master's program in health informatics to do just that.

24 Oct 2012

Donor gene clue to kidney transplant rejection

Genetic study results show that long-term kidney transplant rejection risk may be increased if the organ donor has a variant form of the multidrug resistance 1 gene.

23 Oct 2012

Vascular cell generation could be used to treat vascular disorders

A study in mice has shown that large numbers of vascular endothelial cells can be generated from human amniotic fluid-derived cells.

23 Oct 2012

Genzyme, Alnylam partner to develop and commercialize RNAi therapeutics against ATTR

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Genzyme, a Sanofi company, announced today that they have formed an exclusive alliance to develop and commercialize RNAi therapeutics targeting transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (ATTR) in Japan and other Asia-Pacific countries.

23 Oct 2012

Austrian researchers receive $7.4 million award to verify new breast cancer pathways

The innovator's award recognises Josef Penninger's work in identifying a key molecular pathway how hormone replacement therapies and contraceptive pills can lead to breast cancer. His team provided the first genetic proof that a protein called RANKL is the master regulator of bone loss, which has contributed to the development of a novel drug already approved for the treatment of osteoporosis and skeletal related events in multiple cancers.

23 Oct 2012

Blood-circulating monocytes can replace brain resident microglia

The immune system is comprised of multiple cell types each capable of specialized functions to protect the body from invading pathogens and promote tissue repair after injury. One cell type, known as monocytes, circulates throughout the organism in the blood and enters tissues to actively phagocytose (eat!) foreign cells and assist in tissue healing.

23 Oct 2012

Sickle cell disease treatments: An interview with Dr Niihara, CEO of Emmaus Medical

Sickle cell disease is a devastating hereditary condition that affects millions of people, particularly those in West and Central Africa as well as people of African descent in the United States, Europe and South America.

23 Oct 2012

Thin ideal internalization: an interview with Jessica Suisman and Kelly Klump

Thin-ideal internalization is the extent to which a person identifies with the cultural ideal that thinness is equivalent to attractiveness.

23 Oct 2012

Methylation provides clues to gastric cancer subtypes

Research published in Science Translational Medicine shows that many gastric cancers are associated with significant epigenetic alterations along the DNA triggered by methylation.

22 Oct 2012

Thiol peroxidase involved in S. pneumoniae defenses

The Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria defends itself from high levels of hydrogen peroxide with the help of thiol peroxidase, research shows.

22 Oct 2012

New approach to prevention of breast cancer wins $7.4M award

A new approach to possible future prevention of breast cancer and slowing the spread of tumours has won Austrian researcher Josef Penninger, director of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) in Vienna, a $7.4 million innovator's award to continue his research, from the USA's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

22 Oct 2012

Epigenetic alteration associated with increased risk of breast cancer

Monozygotic twins have the same genome, that is, the same DNA molecule in both siblings. Despite being genetically identical, both twins may have different diseases at different times. This phenomenon is called "twin discordance". But how can people who have the same genetic sequence present different pathologies and at different ages? The explanation partly lies in the fact that the chemical signals added in the DNA to "switch off" or "switch on" genes can be different. These signals are known as epigenetic marks.

20 Oct 2012

UCI, Brown work advances quest for novel treatments for inherited disorder

UC Irvine and Brown University researchers have created a new fruit fly model of inherited epilepsy that's providing insights into the mechanisms underlying temperature-dependent seizures while establishing a platform from which to develop therapies for these disorders.

20 Oct 2012

Researchers identify how mosquito's immune system attacks specific infections

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have determined a new mechanism by which the mosquitoes' immune system can respond with specificity to infections with various pathogens, including the parasite that causes malaria in humans, using one single gene.

20 Oct 2012

Stem cell study may help to unravel how genetic mutation leads to Parkinson's symptoms

By reprogramming skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients with a known genetic mutation, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified damage to neural stem cells as a powerful player in the disease.

20 Oct 2012