UCLA scientists transform HIV into cancer-seeking missile
...it is possible to develop an effective carrier and reprogram it to target specific cells in the body." The UCLA team employed a two-step approach to transform HIV into a cancer-seeking machine. First, the scientists used a version of HIV from which the viral pieces that cause AIDS had been removed. This allow...Harmful chemicals may reprogram gene response to estrogen
...that an environmental agent can actually change or reprogram the gene so that it functions differently. "This study is telling us that an environmental reprogramming of a normal response, combined with an inherited gene defect, work together to promote cancer," said NIEHS Director David Schwartz, M.D. "If thi...Double triumph in stem cell quest
...ea is that the cytoplasm of an enucleated ESC will reprogram the donor nuclei, turning the fused cell into an ESC too. The result, Verlinsky told a conference on pre-implantation genetics in London last week, is new lines of ESCs that are genetically identical to the adult donor. He calls the new cells stembri...Scientists discover the molecular switch for nerve cells' insulating jelly rolls
...e cells. "Is it possible that this same switch can reprogram a nerve cell that has lost myelin due to injury or disease to repair itself? That is a key question that our laboratory and others are now actively trying to answer," he says. ...Cloned stem cells prove identical to fertilized stem cells
...l. For a viable fetus to develop, the egg needs to reprogram the genome of the skin cell, shutting off genes specific for skin tissue and turning on genes needed for embryonic development, genes that are normally dormant in tissue-specific cells. In other words, the egg needs to erase all tissue-specific memor...Bone and cartilage growth to blame for heart valve disease
... high cholesterol that stimulates certain cells to reprogram into bone cells in the aortic valve and cartilage cells in the mitral valve, says principal investigator Nalini Rajamannan, MD, newly appointed director of the Center for Heart Valve Disease in the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute of Northwestern Memor...Vaccine for brain tumors shows promising results
...the patient's particular cancer and is designed to reprogram the body's immune system to target only cancer cells bearing this fingerprint. The vaccine is intended to leave healthy tissue unaffected and limit the debilitating side effects typically associated with traditional cancer treatments such as chemothe...Can engineered immune cells stop AIDS?
...?to create B lymphocytes. The researchers want to reprogram these bone marrow cells by adding genes that will instruct the cells to produce rare antibodies such as B12, 4E10, 2G12 and 2F5. Wang says these antibodies are known to neutralize the virus. "In laboratory tests, we remove harmful genes coding f...UCSF brain tumor vaccine trial shows promising results
...the patient’s particular cancer and is designed to reprogram the body’s immune system to target only cancer cells bearing this fingerprint. The vaccine is intended to leave healthy tissue unaffected and limit the debilitating side effects typically associated with traditional cancer treatments such as chemothe......k, she said. In addition, some virulent larvae can reprogram plant development so that cells in leaves and the base of the plant where the insects feed pump out nutrients favored by the insect. If this happens then even the weak, avirulent larvae on the same leaf have a chance to survive. The researche...