Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Protein Oct-6 is not a biological marker for schizophrenia

The protein Oct-6 is not a biological marker for schizophrenia. The results of a study published today in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry contradict previous findings and show that Oct-6, a protein involved in neurodevelopment, is normally expressed in the adult brain and cannot be used to identify patients with schizophrenia.

23 Oct 2005

Study shows cystic fibrosis gene mutation a risk factor for young-onset pancreatic cancer disease

Mayo Clinic researchers have found the risk of developing pancreatic cancer at a young age (under 60) to be twice as high for people who carry a mutation of the gene that causes cystic fibrosis, compared to noncarriers. Results of a pilot and follow-up study were reported Oct. 14, 2005, online in the journal Gut.

23 Oct 2005

Natural selection has played an important role in patterning the human genome

The most detailed analysis to date of how humans differ from one another at the DNA level shows strong evidence that natural selection has shaped the recent evolution of our species, according to researchers from Cornell University, Celera Genomics and Celera Diagnostics.

23 Oct 2005

Scientists discover molecular structure related to cell growth and cancer

Researchers discovered a special type of molecular structure that helps keep genes properly turned off until the structure is ejected from those genes in a regulated manner to help turn the genes on.

23 Oct 2005

Gene found only in men is altered by a chemical process, which is in turn linked to aggressive forms of melanoma

New scientific evidence that may shed light on why men are more likely than women to develop aggressive forms of skin cancer has been published in Carcinogenesis.

23 Oct 2005

Discovery of a new kind of messenger RNA molecule

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have discovered a new kind of messenger RNA molecule that is converted from non-protein coding status to protein coding status in response to cellular stress such as viral infection.

20 Oct 2005

Spliceosome crucial for processing non-coding RNA

The discovery in 1977 that the coding regions of a gene could appear in separate segments along the DNA won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Richard J. Roberts and Phillip A. Sharp. The active segments of a gene were termed exons, separated from each other within the gene by inactive introns.

20 Oct 2005

Molecule P-glycoprotein (Pgp), may help reduce risk of Alzheimer's

A molecule that has long been an obstacle to cancer chemotherapy and drug treatments for brain disorders may soon become an ally in the fight against Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Rochester.

20 Oct 2005

"Junk" DNA not important to an organism's evolutionary survival

Genetic material derisively called "junk" DNA because it does not contain the instructions for protein-coding genes and appears to have little or no function is actually critically important to an organism's evolutionary survival, according to a study conducted by a biologist at the University of California, San Diego.

19 Oct 2005

Blocking macrophage migration inhibitory factor molecule might prevent the progression of multiple sclerosis

A new study suggests that a substance made by immune cells plays a key role in the progression of a disease in animals that closely mimics multiple sclerosis (MS). The findings further suggest that blocking the molecule, known as macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) might prevent the progression of the disease.

19 Oct 2005

Research reveals possible mechanisms for the treatment of cocaine addiction

Researchers are now understanding in greater detail the molecular machinery underlying the short-term brain changes that produce the high of cocaine, as well as the longer-term changes behind addiction. Their findings offer hope for targeted drugs that can short-circuit that addiction machinery.

19 Oct 2005

Access to genetic counseling and testing are an important part of cancer control

Ten years after the identification of the first breast cancer susceptibility genes so few high-risk minority women have received genetic counseling or testing that the standard methods of calculating risk have not been validated in these groups and the results of genetic testing can still produce surprises.

18 Oct 2005

Yeast cells help show how GSAO (glutathionarsenoxide) angiogenesis inhibitor drug works

The humble yeast has revealed the molecular workings of an anti-cancer drug that stops the growth and spread of tumours in humans by starving their blood supply.

18 Oct 2005

People who carry a mutation in the melanoma susceptibility gene CDKN2A have a much lower risk of melanoma

In addition, most familial clusters of melanoma occur in families without identifiable mutations in this gene, according to a new study that appears in the October 19 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

18 Oct 2005

Aβ and Fyn cooperate to cause Alzheimer-like changes in the brain

Reporting in two companion papers in the October 19 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, investigators from the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease show in genetically engineered mouse models of the disease that the accumulation of Alzheimer-related neurotoxic amyloid-beta (Aâ) peptides can deplete key proteins in a specific memory center of the brain.

18 Oct 2005

Newly discovered role of MECP2 gene in Rett Syndrome

Huda Zoghbi, of Baylor College of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Juan Young, also of Baylor and colleagues report in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, posted the week of October 17, 2005, that the Rett Syndrome gene, MECP2, regulates RNA splicing.

18 Oct 2005

Study identifies molecular switch that integrates cell survival signals from multiple intracellular signaling pathways

The finding has substantial clinical significance, as mutations in these cell survival-signaling pathways are associated with many human cancers, and a better understanding of how these pathways converge to regulate the delicate balance between cell proliferation and cell death may lead to development of more effective cancer therapies.

17 Oct 2005

Study of the molecular mechanism involved in the human implantation process

In spite of advances in assisted reproductive technologies, more than 6.1 million women in the United States - roughly 20 percent of all women of reproductive age - suffer from infertility.

17 Oct 2005

New tool that may prove to be invaluable for investigating the long-term mutagenic effects of chemotherapy and radiation

Scientists have developed a new tool that may prove to be invaluable for investigating the long-term mutagenic effects of chemotherapy and radiation, therapies that are widely used for the treatment of cancer.

17 Oct 2005

New genetic discovery may help explain why some people develop high blood pressure and others don't

It also gives new insight into how the kidneys govern the balance of salt in the body, a crucial task for regulating blood pressure. And, it reveals how a gene already linked to behavior and mental health can play a role in the body, as well as the brain.

17 Oct 2005

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Protein Oct-6 is not a biological marker for schizophrenia

Study shows cystic fibrosis gene mutation a risk factor for young-onset pancreatic cancer disease

Natural selection has played an important role in patterning the human genome

Scientists discover molecular structure related to cell growth and cancer

Gene found only in men is altered by a chemical process, which is in turn linked to aggressive forms of melanoma

Discovery of a new kind of messenger RNA molecule

Spliceosome crucial for processing non-coding RNA

Molecule P-glycoprotein (Pgp), may help reduce risk of Alzheimer's

"Junk" DNA not important to an organism's evolutionary survival

Blocking macrophage migration inhibitory factor molecule might prevent the progression of multiple sclerosis

Research reveals possible mechanisms for the treatment of cocaine addiction

Access to genetic counseling and testing are an important part of cancer control

Yeast cells help show how GSAO (glutathionarsenoxide) angiogenesis inhibitor drug works

People who carry a mutation in the melanoma susceptibility gene CDKN2A have a much lower risk of melanoma

Aβ and Fyn cooperate to cause Alzheimer-like changes in the brain

Newly discovered role of MECP2 gene in Rett Syndrome

Study identifies molecular switch that integrates cell survival signals from multiple intracellular signaling pathways

Study of the molecular mechanism involved in the human implantation process

New tool that may prove to be invaluable for investigating the long-term mutagenic effects of chemotherapy and radiation

New genetic discovery may help explain why some people develop high blood pressure and others don't

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