Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

BRAF gene mutations predict sensitivity to a new class of drug

A team of researchers led by scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have discovered that a new class of drugs -- now in early stage clinical trials -- work best in patients with mutations in the BRAF gene.

7 Nov 2005

New discovery helps explain complex neurocircuitry behind body weight control

A study led by a scientific team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides another important step in our understanding of the critical role that the brain's molecular pathways play in the development of obesity and related disorders.

7 Nov 2005

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have deciphered code for motor neuron wiring

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have deciphered a key part of the regulatory code that governs how motor neurons in the spinal cord connect to specific target muscles in the limbs.

7 Nov 2005

Only 10 percent of doctors have ever heard of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva

A new research study shows how common a medical misdiagnosis can be and how severely it can exacerbate a disease.

7 Nov 2005

Gene silencing and microRNA discovery

One of the body's primary strategies for regulating its genome is a kind of targeted gene silencing orchestrated by small molecules called microRNAs, or miRNAs.

7 Nov 2005

Largest study to date on risk factors associated with primary biliary cirrhosis

A case-control study of more than 2000 people has identified a number of factors that may induce primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in genetically susceptible individuals. These include a history of urinary tract infections, hormone replacement therapy, tobacco use, and nail polish use.

3 Nov 2005

Substance found in evening primrose oil inhibits breast cancer gene

Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), a substance in evening primrose oil and several other plant oils used in herbal medicine, inhibits action of Her-2/neu, a cancer gene that is responsible for almost 30 percent of all breast cancers, Northwestern University researchers report.

3 Nov 2005

First steps taken to treat human hereditary blindness

A team led by Krzysztof Palczewski, Ph.D., chair of pharmacology at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has taken the first steps in treating an eye disease causing irreversible congenital blindness in millions of people worldwide by successfully testing two new treatments in mice.

3 Nov 2005

New findings on bacterial vaginosis

Despite being one of the most common infections among women, scientists and doctors know little about the causes of bacterial vaginosis (BV), a usually benign disease that is also linked to serious health problems including pelvic inflammatory disease

3 Nov 2005

Important breakthrough in developing the drugs of the future

Their work on targeting individual genes for more effective and cheaper drug testing opens the way to treatments for a huge range of diseases including diabetes and atherosclerosis, which leads to strokes and heart attacks.

3 Nov 2005

Lung cancer drug approved for treating pancreatic cancer

Genentech and OSI Pharmaceuticals have announced that U.S. regulators have approved their lung cancer drug Tarceva for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

3 Nov 2005

Tongues have a taste for fatty food

According to a new study French scientists say our tongues have an ability to detect fat in the diet which may explain our love of cheesecake, french fries and butter cookies.

2 Nov 2005

Protein called CHIP helps untangle protein misfolding in brain disease

Keeping the body and mind healthy depends on keeping cells healthy and functioning. This means that cells need a very robust quality-control system to repair or remove damaged or misshapen proteins. Protein handling is especially important in neurons because damage or death of brain cells causes neurological disease.

1 Nov 2005

Researchers determine how Tsg101 gene controls cellular growth

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine and their colleagues have discovered a genetic mechanism that controls cellular growth in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and believe it likely that a similar system may be at work in normal and cancerous human cells.

1 Nov 2005

Unique approach to enhance the immune system in patients with breast or colorectal cancer

The study uses a potent immune-enhancing gene delivered directly into the cancer cells to make them look foreign to the body's immune system, which will then attack and destroy the cancer.

1 Nov 2005

Treatment for Leber Congenital Amaurosis

U.S. researchers have taken the first steps in treating an eye disease that causes irreversible blindness in humans by successfully testing two novel treatments in mice.

1 Nov 2005

At least two "diabetes genes" predict the risk of Type 2 diabete

Scandinavian researchers have confirmed that at least two "diabetes genes" predict the risk of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) when combined with lifestyle factors, in the largest study of its kind to date.

1 Nov 2005

Gene fusion appears to cause prostate cancer

Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School, in collaboration with researchers at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital, have discovered a recurring pattern of scrambled chromosomes and abnormal gene activity that occurs only in prostate cancer.

30 Oct 2005

DCDC2 gene linked to dyslexia

Pediatric researchers at Yale School of Medicine have identified a gene on human chromosome 6 called DCDC2, which is linked to dyslexia, a reading disability affecting millions of children and adults.

30 Oct 2005

Novel mouse model of medulloblastoma

A collaboration of researchers, led by Dr. Martine Roussel of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, has developed a novel mouse model of medulloblastoma -- the most prevalent malignant pediatric brain tumor -- that the researchers hope will more accurately represent the genetic changes involved in human brain tumor development.

30 Oct 2005