Tag: "heel" at biology news

Unchecked DNA replication drives earliest steps toward cancer

...s and cancer cells may turn out to be the Achilles heel of cancer," Halazonetis says. "It might be possible to inhibit repair of these DNA breaks, in which case the cancer cells would die." The lead authors on the Nature study are Vassilis G. Gorgoulis and Leandros-Vassilios F. Vassiliou at the Universit...

Ancient immune defense mechanism is no match for HIV-1

...or an SRS is solely to shield this last 'Achilles' heel that we think HIV-1 cannot alter for functional reasons. The sequence we describe may represent a viable target for RNAi that HIV-1 cannot elude by using the point mutation mechanism, " explains Dr. Jeang. The researchers include Yamina Bennasser an...

Achilles heel of the herpes virus possibly found

...s. "This may be one central part of the Achilles' heel in interactions of herpes virus with a cell to start infection. We can use the receptor molecule to try to understand the process and perhaps combat infection at this vulnerable site," says A. Oveta Fuller, Ph.D. the leader of the U-M team, senior au...

'Cookbook recipes' would cure disease with nontoxic DNA delivery systems

...ut killing innocent cells has become the Achilles' heel in DNA delivery. Positively charged (cationic) synthetic molecules will readily bond to negatively charged DNA molecules and have been used for DNA delivery, but these cationic molecules are often toxic to cells, Wong said. An alternative is to use ...

Federal grant funds research on novel HIV therapy

...ts, the new grant focuses on a potential Achilles' heel in the human immunodeficiency virus: sites on immune cells known as neurokinin-1 receptors. In focusing on those sites, researchers hope to achieve a triple benefit: fighting HIV by blocking the virus from immune cells, improving innate immune functi...

Attacking cancer's sweet tooth is effective strategy against tumors

...ng contribution that reveals a surprising Achilles heel in cancer cells. It also adds to our sense of opportunity for new avenues of cancer therapeutics," said Stuart Schrieber, Morris Loeb professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. As a tumor grows, c...

Natural anti-viral enzyme helps keep cancer cells alive, researchers find

...und something a little bit different ?an Achilles' heel of cancer cells that's apparently broadly conserved among many types of solid tumors." Using cultured human cells, the researchers set out to study enzymes known to be involved in keeping cancer cells alive and proliferating. They soon narrowed the...

Smokers quit after damage to brain region

...nding that one small region could be the Achilles' heel of smoking addiction is especially surprising, given the brain-wide effects of nicotine on the nervous system. The study considered smokers with damage that did not include the insula, but the likelihood of disrupting the smoking addiction was man...

Genomic Analysis Uncovers New Targets for HIV Vaccine

...C, unlike A and B, HLA-C may represent an Achilles heel of HIV, according to Goldstein, who said that a vaccine could be designed to elicit an HLA-C mediated response which HIV-1 might be unable to defuse. "This study was the first time a genome-wide approach has been used for an infectious disease," Gol...

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