Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Analysis of Fcg Receptor haplotypes in rheumatoid arthritis

People with a specific combination of variants of two genes, encoding two different receptors for the antibody Fc gamma, are three times more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than individuals with different variant combinations.

28 Nov 2005

Loss of genes on chromosome 1 or 11 raises the risk of death from the children's cancer neuroblastoma

A new study reports that a loss of genes on chromosome 1 or chromosome 11 raises the risk of death from the children's cancer neuroblastoma, even when other indicators seem to point to a lower-risk form of the disease.

28 Nov 2005

Genetic influences behind Dupuytren's disease or contracture

A crippling condition that can result in sufferers losing their fingers is to be investigated by scientists in one of the most detailed studies into the genetic causes of the disease ever carried out.

From The University of Manchester 26 Nov 2005

New door opens for anti-aging research in humans

A counterintuitive experiment has resulted in one of the longest recorded life-span extensions in any organism and opened a new door for anti-aging research in humans.

26 Nov 2005

Thrombospondin (TSP-1) can cause kidney failure when normal blood flow is disrupted

Scientists led by a University of Cincinnati (UC) kidney expert have found that a naturally occurring protein that normally fights cancer cells can also cause severe kidney failure when normal blood flow is disrupted.

26 Nov 2005

Researchers identify genes affected by Methotrexate (MTX)

A Queen's University study of fruit flies that may revolutionize the way birth defects are studied has identified the genes affected by a widely-prescribed drug known to cause birth defects.

26 Nov 2005

High blood pressure research advances efforts to tailor drugs to individual patients

Having high blood pressure and a particular genetic alteration dramatically increases the risk of heart attack, stroke or death, and may explain why some hypertensive patients fare worse than others - even if they take the same medication, University of Florida researchers announced.

26 Nov 2005

Fear gene discovered

In the Nov. 18 issue of Cell, researchers report the discovery of a gene that controls the ability to react with appropriate fear to impending danger.

26 Nov 2005

Chinese research often fails to reach world scientific community

Important genetic research done in China often fails to reach the international scientific community, according to a study published in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

26 Nov 2005

Critical role of p53 gene

Fruit flies can live significantly longer, and remain healthy, when activity of the fly version of the tumor-suppressing protein p53 is reduced in nerve cells.

21 Nov 2005

Why some people do not respond as well as others to statin therapy

A newly discovered genetic variation, in combination with a second variation, reduces the ability of statin drugs to lower "bad" LDL cholesterol, researchers report at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2005.

20 Nov 2005

Sperm stem cells research provides exciting findings

New experiments that prevented rat sperm stem cells from changing permanently into sperm have brought researchers one step closer to coaxing such cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, capable of growing into many other types of cells in the body.

20 Nov 2005

Study of how bacteria change their metabolic networks

Bacteria feel pressures to evolve antibiotic resistance and other new abilities in response to a changing environment, and they react by 'stealing' genetic information from other better-adapted types of bacteria, according to research published in Nature Genetics.

20 Nov 2005

New gene linked to schizophrenia and depression

A Scots-led medical research team has identified a new gene linked to major mental illness that links back to a previously discovered gene known to increase the risk of schizophrenia and depression.

20 Nov 2005

New genes that regulate longevity

In an effort to understand the molecular mechanisms that control aging, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers and their colleagues have now uncovered 10 new genes that regulate longevity in yeast. The studies also suggest a new model for how aging is slowed when caloric intake is restricted.

20 Nov 2005