Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Myriad Genetics highlights three new studies at SABCS 2014

Myriad Genetics, Inc. today announced results from a new study that demonstrated the ability of the myRisk Hereditary Cancer test to detect 105 percent more mutations in cancer causing genes than conventional BRCA testing alone. The Company also presented two key studies in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) that show the myChoice HRD test accurately predicted response to platinum-based therapy in patients with early-stage TNBC and that the BRACAnalysis molecular diagnostic test significantly predicted response to platinum-based drugs in patients with metastatic TNBC.

10 Dec 2014

Study: Long-term endurance training alters epigenetic pattern in the human skeletal muscle

A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows that long-term endurance training in a stable way alters the epigenetic pattern in the human skeletal muscle. The research team behind the study, which is being published in the journal Epigenetics, also found strong links between these altered epigenetic patterns and the activity in genes controlling improved metabolism and inflammation.

10 Dec 2014

Genetic variations may contribute to treatment-related cognitive problems in children with ALL

Common variations in four genes related to brain inflammation or cells' response to damage from oxidation may contribute to the problems with memory, learning and other cognitive functions seen in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to a study led by researchers from Boston Children's Hospital, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, and Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

10 Dec 2014

Chemical chaperone: A new therapeutic option for epilepsy

Researchers found out that the conformational defect in a specific protein causes Autosomal Dominant Lateral Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (ADLTE) which is a form of familial epilepsy. They showed that treatment with chemical corrector called "chemical chaperone" ameliorates increased seizure susceptibility in a mouse model of human epilepsy by correcting the conformational defect.

10 Dec 2014

Epizyme presents EPZ-5676 Phase 1 trial results for acute leukemia at ASH 2014

Epizyme, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company creating innovative personalized therapeutics for patients with genetically defined cancers, announced today the presentation of results from the company’s Phase 1 trial of EPZ-5676, a potent and selective inhibitor of the DOT1L histone methyltransferase (HMT).

10 Dec 2014

Molecular response criteria examined for CML

The limitations in determining molecular response in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy have been reviewed in Cancer.

9 Dec 2014

Study finds that disarray in methylation helps tumors adapt to changing circumstances

The genetic tumult within cancerous tumors is more than matched by the disorder in one of the mechanisms for switching cells' genes on and off, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard report in a new study.

9 Dec 2014

Agent THZ1 shrinks human-like small cell lung tumors in mice

Small cell lung cancer - a disease for which no new drugs have been approved for many years - has shown itself vulnerable to an agent that disables part of tumor cells' basic survival machinery, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported.

9 Dec 2014

Scientists receive NIH grants to explore sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

Nine groups of scientists will receive funding totaling $5.9 million in 2014 to work together on increasing the understanding of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), the leading cause of death from epilepsy. The consortium becomes the second Center Without Walls, an initiative to speed the pace of research on difficult problems in epilepsy by promoting collaborative research.

9 Dec 2014

Case Western Reserve selected to lead $27.3 million international effort to identify causes of SUDEP

Case Western Reserve is one of two universities in the country selected to lead a $27.3 million international effort to identify the causes of a mysterious and deadly phenomenon that strikes people with epilepsy without warning.

9 Dec 2014

MD Anderson study sheds light on miR569 gene

A genetic misfire called the 3q26.2 amplicon can cause real havoc. In fact, it is among the most frequent chromosomal aberrations seen in many cancers, including ovarian and breast cancers.

9 Dec 2014

Screening system spots cancerous changes invisible to sequencing

A technique that can identify causes of cancer invisible to genetic sequencing has uncovered large sets of previously unknown pancreatic cancer genes. It is hoped that this study will boost research into a disease that is still poorly understood and for which five-year survival rates have stood at around 5 per cent for the past four decades.

8 Dec 2014

Findings open new avenues for research to predict risk of therapy-related AML

For a small percentage of cancer patients, treatment aimed at curing the disease leads to a form of leukemia with a poor prognosis. Conventional thinking goes that chemotherapy and radiation therapy induce a barrage of damaging genetic mutations that kill cancer cells yet inadvertently spur the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a blood cancer.

8 Dec 2014

Cellular mechanisms of alcohol dependence: an interview with Dr Sanna, TSRI

In the brain there are both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. These are molecules that are released from nerve endings in the brain and in the periphery and either excite or inhibit other nerve cells, also known as neurons.

8 Dec 2014

Spark Therapeutics, Pfizer partner to develop SPK-FIX for potential treatment of hemophilia B

Spark Therapeutics, a late-stage gene therapy company developing treatments for debilitating genetic diseases, announced today that it has entered into a global collaboration with Pfizer Inc. for the development and potential commercialization of SPK-FIX, a development program advancing proprietary, bio-engineered adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for the potential treatment of hemophilia B.

8 Dec 2014

Henry Ford Hospital recruits patients to participate in brain cancer clinical trial

Henry Ford Hospital today announced that it is actively recruiting patients to participate in a clinical trial taking place at the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center which is showing promising results in patients with brain cancer.

8 Dec 2014

Subsets of cells drive spread of multiple myeloma

Although it is among the most highly metastatic of all cancers, multiple myeloma is driven to spread by only a subset of the myeloma cells within a patient's body, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found in a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

8 Dec 2014

Baylor-led researchers identify gene linked to familial glioma

An international consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine has identified for the first time a gene associated with familial glioma (brain tumors that appear in two or more members of the same family) providing new support that certain people may be genetically predisposed to the disease.

8 Dec 2014

New type of cancer therapy shows promise in patients with advanced leukemia

A new type of cancer therapy that targets an oncometabolite produced dramatic results in patients with advanced leukemia in an early-phase clinical trial. The study, led by Eytan M. Stein, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, was presented today at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

8 Dec 2014

Novel targeted therapies and treatment combinations for leukemia

Recognizing that leukemia cannot be conquered with a "one-size-fits-all" approach, researchers are pursuing novel targeted therapies and combinations of existing treatment regimens with new agents for patient populations with historically poor prognoses, according to data presented today during the 56th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.

7 Dec 2014