Food additive may one day help control blood lipids and reduce disease risk

... a strain of mice that could not make fatty acid synthase in the liver. When humans or animals eat, we take in sugars. Fatty acid synthase converts those sugars to fatty acids in the ... "To our surprise, animals missing fatty acid synthase in the liver were just like animals that couldn't ...

Also in the March 24 JNCI

... , 301-496-6641 Overexpression of Fatty Acid synthase Promotes Prostate Cancer in Mouse Models Fatty acid synthase (FASN) can act as a prostate cancer oncogene in mouse models. FASN, a ...

E. coli engineered to produce important class of antibiotic, anti-cancer drugs

... graduate students Wenjun Zhang and Yanran Li first dissected a polyketide synthase enzyme from a rice plant fungus, then reassembled it and transferred it ... said Zhang, the paper's lead author. "Our work showed that polyketide synthase from the two kingdoms can indeed be functionally combined inside the E. ...

What are simple ways to judge the efficacy of 5-fluorouracil in colonic neoplasm?

... drug. It exerts its antitumor effect through competitive thymidylate synthase (TS) inhibition. Thymidylate synthase (TS) catalyses deoxyuridine-5-monophosphate (dUMP) to ...

Key Anthrax Virulence Factor Discovered

... they also suggest a new target, known as bacterial nitric oxide synthase (bNOS), for fighting the pathogen, said study leader Evgeny Nudler, a ... said Nudler, "to find small molecule inhibitors of bacterial nitric oxide synthase that would not touch its human counterpart. If we are lucky, we will find ...

FASgen Announces New Research Discoveries in Lung Cancer

... FASgen supported research into the selective inhibition of fatty acid synthase (FASi) at the Hopkins Oncology Center as a potential therapeutic agent ... results appear in the article, "Selective Inhibition of Fatty Acid synthase for Lung Cancer Treatment," Gabrielson et al, Clin Cancer Res 200l, 13(23) ...

Unique Collaboration Between TB Alliance and Tibotec To Accelerate Tuberculosis Drug Development

... Sheet. Accessed from http://www.who.int/tb/publications/2008/factsheet_april08.pdf . (VI) Andries et al. A Diarylquinoline Drug Active on the ATP synthase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Science 14 January 2005: Vol. 307. no. 5707, pp. 223 - 227. Media Contacts Global Alliance for TB ...

Upside-down world: DNA protecting protein helps cancer drug to kill cells

... cancer. But precisely how the drug kills cancerous cells was not well understood. It was generally thought that as an inhibitor of thymidylate synthase the compound worked by starving cells of the thymidine needed to make DNA. First author on the paper Christophe Kunz and his colleagues ...

Genetic variants predict recurrence of bladder cancer, patient survival

... over four years. In this study of 596 patients at M. D. Anderson, 46 percent of those who had a common genotype of the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene experienced a recurrence after receiving maintenance BCG therapy. Only 22 percent of patients with the variant-containing genotypes had a ...

Scientists Gain Insight Into Blood Cancer's Progression

... a deadlier stage. The finding may improve patient outcomes, they said. The researchers found that when a molecular off-switch called glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) 3 beta becomes faulty in chronic stage CML cells, it fails to turn off another protein called beta-catenin. This enables pre-leukemia ...

Scientists uncover indicator that warns leukemia is progressing to more dangerous form

... Medicine Institute at the Stanford University School of Medicine, the researchers discovered that when a molecular off-switch called glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) 3 beta becomes faulty in chronic stage CML cells, it fails to turn off another protein, beta-catenin. This in turn enables pre-leukemia ...

Smoking-Low Birth Weight Link Explained in Part

... has been identified by Danish researchers. They found that smoking during pregnancy lowers production of an enzyme called endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which regulates blood vessel dilation. Reduced production of eNOS causes narrowing of blood vessels and less blood flow to the fetus, ...

FASgen, Inc. Announces Research and License Agreement With Centocor, Inc.

... opportunity to discover and develop novel small molecule inhibitors of the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway via selective inhibition of Fatty Acid synthase (FAS) for use in Oncology. The FASgen researchers have extensive experience studying the over-expression of FAS, an enzyme over-expressed in ...

ACS PressPac -- Dec. 10, 2008

... strategies, that target the ability of B. cinerea to make botrydial, the researchers suggest. MTS ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Sesquiterpene synthase from the Botrydial Biosynthetic Gene Cluster of the Phytopathogen Botrytis cinerea" DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE ...

Existing anti-obesity drugs may be effective against flu, hepatitis and HIV

... reproduce and spread. Thus, the team next used drugs known to inhibit enzymes that build fatty acids, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and fatty acid synthase (FAS), used in the treatment of obesity and high cholesterol, to determine whether HCMV-induced fatty acid production was necessary for enveloped ...

New leukemia signal could point way to better treatment, Stanford researchers find

... of leukemia. Their discovery hinges on a novel "double agent" role for a molecular signal that regulates cell growth. The rogue signal, glycogen synthase kinase 3, was previously found to halt uncontrolled cell growth, preventing several forms of cancer. It also keeps growth of healthy cells in check. ...

Cardiologist Praises Latest Resveratrol/Red Wine Research

... chromosome (chromatin) level. Other mechanisms of action of low-dose resveratrol may be through stimulation of AMP kinase and nitric oxide synthase activity. Resveratrol and Dietary Supplements for Anti-Aging "This study confirms that dietary resveratrol can improve genetic performance in old ...

Could new discovery about a shape-shifting protein lead to a mighty 'morpheein' bacteria fighter?

... The researchers discovered a small molecule, which they have named morphlock-1, binds the inactive form of a protein known as porphobilinogen synthase (PBGS), an enzyme used by nearly all forms of cellular life. The functioning form of PBGS is built from eight identical component parts in what is ...

Targeted Anticancer Drugs - In Vitro Assessment and Non-Invasive Imaging of Patient and Tumor Status Will Determine Clinical and Commercial Success

... alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) receptor (RECAF); Akt; anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK); androgen receptor (Ar); angiopoietin-1; angiopoietin-2; APEX; ATP synthase [alpha] subunit; axl; Bap31; Bcl-xL; Bcl-2; bcr-abl/abl (including mutated forms); B-FN (ED-B fibronectin); carboxyanhydrase IX (CA IX); ...

Major 'missed' biochemical pathway emerges as important in virtually all cells

... promoted tumor development and tumor maintenance in mice. The Chris Counter work is especially exciting because he shows that a nitric oxide synthase is linked to cancer, and he specifically identifies the protein that is the target of the nitric oxide, the protein that gets turned on through ...

In blood vessel stents, innovative materials allow better control, delivery of gene therapy

... allow peak release of the vector when it can have the maximum benefit. The adenovirus vector carries genes that code for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), a protein that controls cell damage in blood vessels. In the current study, the iNOS reduced restenosis by 56 percent in the carotid arteries ...

FASgen Diagnostic Tests Identify Ovarian Cancer Progression and Apoptosis

... subject of an address to Society of Gynecologic Oncologists annual meeting last week in Tampa, Florida. The report, "Over-expression of Fatty Acid synthase (FAS) in Recurrent Ovarian Serous Carcinomas and its Potential Diagnostic and Therapeutic Role in Chemoresistant Disease," presented the data ...

Significant Generic Erosion Will Cause Sales of Dyslipidemia Drugs to Decline by $3.6 Billion by 2016

... Zetia/Ezetrol. Aggressive treatment will also boost uptake of novel LDL-lowering therapies such as lapaquistat, Takeda's novel squalene synthase inhibitor, which will be used in polypharmacy regimens. "Although statins are entrenched as the first-line therapy of choice for the vast majority ...

Study in Circulation Research details how diabetes drives atherosclerosis

... diabetes, fast blood flow triggers an enzyme called extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK-5). ERK5 in turn signals endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) to produce more nitric oxide and dilate blood vessels. It also activates Kruppel-like factor 2 (KLF2) and peroxisome proliferator-activated ...

iNOS expression may links chronic biliary inflammation to malignant transformation

... the molecular mechanisms of biliary carcinogenesis as a consequence of chronic biliary inflammation remain unclear. Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is induced in inflamed tissues and generates large amounts of nitric oxide (NO) that can promote mutagenic changes in DNA through DNA ...

Weill Cornell receives $2.4 million in grants from Gates Foundation to fight tuberculosis

... potential, demonstrated the role of the respiratory burst in macrophage biology, and pioneered numerous advances in inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), which plays a key role in the immune system. These contributions inform current research efforts, including those directed at macrophage ...

Possible genetic predictor for response to lithium augmentation in depressed patients

... used to treat bipolar disorder. They then genotyped these patients for variations in the GSK3B gene. This gene codes for the enzyme glycogen synthase kinase 3-beta, which is inhibited by lithium. Mazda Adli, M.D., corresponding author on the project, explains their findings: [We] found that ...

Genetic 'roadblock' hoped to inspire future type 2 diabetes research

... from the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital found the first genetic evidence that the elimination of the gene for glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) in mice sensitizes the animals to insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps control sugar (glucose) levels in the blood. In ...

Studies suggest key correlation between lung cancer subtype and treatment outcomes

... patients on the trial. The retrospective analysis was driven by preclinical data that suggested patients with a lower expression of thymidylate synthase (TS) enzyme show an increased efficacy when treated with ALIMTA. , The histological type of NSCLC is determined by how the cancerous cells appear ...

Obesity Drug may Hold Potent Cancer Treatments

... growth. Researchers found that a protein known as fatty acid synthase was expressed at high levels in prostate tumour cells, and was fairly ... colon, ovarian, liver, lung and brain. "High levels of fatty acid synthase correlate with a poor prognosis so it is a great treatment target. This ...

Human Membranes Crystal Structure may Help Tailor Asthma Drugs

... has a major influence on the development of asthma . LTC4 synthase is tremendously difficult to analyse, and previously only low-resolution ... and E-Mep, elucidated the three dimensional structure of the LTC4 synthase at 2.0 resolution. It is clear from the structure that ...

An Exploration into Erectile Dysfunction in Diabetics

... high glucose in diabetes mellitus modifies the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) enzyme, which is responsible for the achievement and maintenance of ... begins when a sexual stimulus activates the enzyme neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) that causes short-term release of nitric oxide (NO) at the nerve ...

Erectile Dysfunction in Diabetes Due to Defect in the NO Mechanisms

... response that occurs in response to the administration of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) within the PVN. At the same time, inhibition of NO synthase with NG-monomethly-L-argining (L-NMMA) prevents NMDA-induced erection. The researchers hypothesized that the blunted NMDA mediated responses in ...

UIC Researchers Receive $2.1 Million Grant

... including weight gain." Efforts to understand the molecular target for lithium have shown that compounds that inhibit the enzyme glycogen synthase kinase-3 may mimic the therapeutic action of the mood stabilizers, Kozikowski said, and might point the way to the design of improved drugs for ...

“Erectile Dysfunction” Drugs Heighten Natural Anti-Cancer Activiy

... patterns of the myeloid-derived suppressor cells and found that sildenafil blocked two genes regulating enzymes -- arginase and nitric oxide synthase -- which are key to triggering immune suppression via MDSCs. Borrello’s team found that the arginase enzyme, which metabolizes a dietary supplement ...

Impotency Drugs Help to Unmask Cancer Cells

... patterns of the myeloid-derived suppressor cells and found that sildenafil blocked two genes regulating enzymes - arginase and nitric oxide synthase - which are key to triggering immune suppression via MDSCs. Borrello's team found that the arginase enzyme, which metabolizes a dietary supplement ...

Cardiogenic Shock is the Leading Cause of Death for Heart Attack Patients

... is underway to find new treatments for cardiogenic shock. Dr. Hochman is leading a trial to determine whether a compound called nitric oxide synthase inhibitor can help shock patients by targeting excess nitric oxide production. (Source: ...

Tear-free Onions

... it did not, they investigated other potential candidates. To their surprise, they found a hitherto unknown enzyme called lachrymatory-factor synthase was responsible for making a compound called propanthial S-oxide which causes crying. They were also surprised to discover that when this ...

Altitude sickness connected to genes

... to try to decipher the genetic cause of the nitric oxide deficit in patients with HAPE." The gene in question, the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene, is key in the role of releasing nitric oxide in the blood. The researchers compared the genetic sequence of eNOS in climbers who had ...