ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A team of University of Michigan scientists has found that suppressing a newly discovered gene lengthens the lifespan of roundworms. Scientists who study aging have long known that significantly restricting food intake makes an…
Cancerous and precancerous cells can detect that they are abnormal and kill themselves, or remain alive indefinitely but cease proliferating, through two intrinsic processes called programmed cell death and cellular senescence. One goal of cancer chemotherapy is to help stimulate these potent antitumor processes. Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island have recently shown that by locking cancer cells into a permanent state in which they remain alive but can no longer proliferate, cellular senescence contributes to successful outcomes following cancer therapy. Now, the same group has uncovered a precise molecular mechanism that helps trigger the “stop growing” response of cells. The study is published in the June 13 issue of the journal Cell.
When a few weeds appear on your front lawn, you can easily pick them off one by one. But if they start taking over the yard, the picking becomes laborious, and you may need to turn to a chemical weed-killer to hold the invaders in check. After several applications of the herbicide, however, the weeds could become resistant, forcing you to use an even more powerful solution. Meanwhile, the survival of your lawn hangs in the balance. Like weeds in a lawn, pathogenic fungi and yeasts (single-celled fungi) can invade and overtake our bodies. In people with healthy immune systems, cells called macrophages and neutrophils engulf these pathogens, nipping them in the bud. But when the immune system is weakened by disease or drugs, fungi ? much like weeds in your garden ? can grow unchecked.
By blocking a protein key to prostate cancer cell growth, researchers at the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University have discovered a way to trigger extensive prostate cancer cell death. This finding opens a new window for developing targeted treatments aimed at destroying prostate cancer cells before they have the opportunity to grow or spread. The study is published in the April 29 online issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Research into the health-promoting properties of green tea is yielding information that may lead to new treatments for skin diseases and wounds.
Dr. Stephen Hsu, a cell biologist in the Medical College of Georgia Department of Oral Biology, has uncovered a wealth of information about green tea in the last few years. Most importantly, he helped determine that compounds in green tea called polyphenols help eliminate free radicals, which can cause cancer by altering DNA. He also found that polyphenols safeguard healthy cells while ushering cancer cells to their death.
A New jersey researcher has discovered a gene responsible for melanoma, the most aggressive form of malignant skin cancer. Melanoma may appear in places that never see sun, spread to other parts of the body and become lethal. This type of cancer is not generally responsive to chemotherapy. Cancer Institute, in the United States the incidence rate of melanoma has more than doubled in the past 20 years.
Shoddy work by a DNA-repair enzyme allows tuberculosis-causing bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance, scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have discovered. Reported in the current issue of the journal Cell, the finding could lead to new ways to treat TB without risking the development of drug resistance.
Scientists have used a powerful gene-mapping technique to produce the clearest picture yet of all the genes of an animal ? the microscopic worm Caenorhabditis elegans (better known as C. elegans). Scientists believe the same technique may be used to bring the current, somewhat blurry picture of the human genome into sharper focus. The study, in Nature Genetics, describes an effort to locate and precisely identify all of the approximately 19,000 genes that have been predicted to exist in the genome of C. elegans.
In 1995, U.S. researchers published results of a major multi-center study showing that the compound hydroxyurea could cut in half the number of severe painful episodes patients with sickle cell anemia experience.
Now, an extension of that study shows that not only do patients on hydroxyurea have fewer crises, but they also have a significant survival advantage when compared to similarly affected patients who do not take the medication. Subjects treated with it overall showed 40 percent lower mortality than others.
Patients with sickle cell disease have mutant haemoglobin proteins that form deadly long, stiff fibres inside red blood cells. A research team led by University of Warwick researcher Dr Matthew Turner, propose a mathematical model in the 28 March online issue of PRL to explain the persistent stability of these deadly fibres. The theory suggests that an inherent “twistiness” in the strands that make up the fibres could be the key to their durability and possibly to new treatments.
Researchers have explained how adult stem cells can heal diseased liver tissue. The research helps direct scientists in the quest for therapeutic uses of adult stem cells, which are derived from bone marrow. The research may also help define the therapeutic limits of these stem cells.
Drivers talking on cell phones are nearly twice as likely as other drivers involved in crashes to have rear-end collisions, according to a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study. Crashes involving cell phone use, however, are less likely to result in fatalities or serious injuries than crashes not involving the devices. Almost 60 percent of licensed N.C. drivers have used a cell phone while behind the wheel, investigators from the UNC Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC) found.