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New binding target for oncogenic viral protein

The DNA tumor virus simian virus 40 produces the Large T antigen which inactivates two of the cell's most important cancer-preventing proteins, p53 and pRb. In a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center report the discovery of an additional target for T antigen--a protein called Fbw7. The Fbw7 gene is located in a ch...

Ancient olfaction protein is shared by many bugs, offering new pest control target

In the battle against insect pests, new research indicates that it may all come down to the sense of smell. A group of Rockefeller University scientists who had previously identified a key gene essential for the sense of smell in fruit flies now shows that this gene's function appears to be evolutionarily conserved across very different insect species. Research by Leslie Vosshall's laborat...

Novel Enzyme Shows Potential As An Anti-HIV Target

At just 9.8 kilobases, the HIV genome pales in comparison to the 3.2 gigabases of its human and nonhuman primate targets. The compact retrovirus encodes just 14 proteins, which play different roles in promoting viral infection and virulence. As a retrovirus, HIV uses the host’s cellular machinery—including RNA polymerases, which carry out transcription—to copy its RNA genome into DNA and infiltra...

A bacterial genome reveals new targets to combat infectious disease

More than a billion people are at risk for infection with filarial nematodes, parasites that cause elephantiasis, African river blindness, and other debilitating diseases in more than 150 million people worldwide. The nematodes themselves play host to bacteria that live within their cells, but in this case, the relationship is classic mutualism, with each benefiting from the other. Indeed, the Wo...

Muscle-targeted gene therapy reverses rare muscular dystrophy in mice

Gene therapy methods that specifically target muscle may reverse the symptoms of a rare form of muscular dystrophy, according to new research in mice conducted by medical geneticists at Duke University Medical Center. Infants born with the inherited muscular disorder called Pompe disease usually die before they reach the age of two. The researchers also said their approach of targeting corrective...

Researchers identify target for cancer drugs

For nearly a decade, scientists have been trying to fully understand a particular communication pathway inside of cells that contributes to many malignant brain and prostate cancers. While scientists have identified elements of this pathway, other key components have remained a mystery. Researchers at Whitehead Institute now have discovered a missing puzzle piece, a finding that may present drug...

First-ever Compounds To Target Only Metastatic Cells Are Highly Effective Against Breast, Prostate, And Colon Cancers

Two compounds that zero in on cancer cells spreading throughout the body, while ignoring primary tumor cells, could someday give doctors a whole new weapon in the fight against tough-to-treat metastatic disease, according to Weill Medical College of Cornell University researchers. The compounds, called synthetic migrastatin analogues, prevented 91 to 99 percent of metastatic breast cancer...

Scientists discover unique microbe in California's largest lake

Scientists at the University of Oregon havediscovered a form of blue-green algae that lives independently inCalifornia's Salton Sea, using near-infrared light for photosynthesis,according to an article published in this week's online edition of theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)."This new strain of Acaryochloris is unique because it is able to liveon its own," says UO...

World's largest rainforest drying experiment completes first phase

Scientists with The Woods Hole Research Center are analyzing the surprising results of the first phase of a drydown experiment occurring in the Amazonian rainforest. From January 2000 to July 2004, rainfall was excluded from a one-hectare (2.2 acre) plot in the middle of the Tapajós National Forest, in Brazil. A total of 6 feet of rainfall was diverted with six thousand 2' by 6' clear plas...

Molecular Motors Cooperate In Moving Cellular Cargo, Study Shows

Researchers using an extremely fast and accurate imaging technique have shed light on the tiny movements of molecular motors that shuttle material within living cells. The motors cooperate in a delicate choreography of steps, rather than engaging in the brute-force tug of war many scientists had imagined. "We discovered that two molecular motors -- dynein and kinesin -- do not compete for...

NASA study finds snow melt causes large ocean plant blooms

A NASA funded study has found a decline in winter and spring snow cover over Southwest Asia and the Himalayan mountain range is creating conditions for more widespread blooms of ocean plants in the Arabian Sea. The decrease in snow cover has led to greater differences in both temperature and pressure systems between the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Sea. The pressure differences gene...

Potential Drug Target For Treating Cocaine Abuse Found

A substance similar to a drug used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease blocks the stimulating effects of cocaine and could potentially be used to develop drug therapy for cocaine abuse, new research shows. In an article published in the February 23, 2005, issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, Jonathan Katz and his colleagues at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) report the re...

New project aims to make large-scale lobster farms feasible

Harbor Branch scientists have received new funding for a research program they hope will make large-scale culturing of spiny lobster economically feasible. The project is based on the serendipitous discovery that lobster larvae are settling on open water fish cages in Puerto Rico by the thousands. The research, along with the some of the lobster's more fascinating habits such as their tendency to...

Study reveals candidate targets for anti-retroviral therapeutics

The increased frequency of drug resistance in isolates of the AIDS virus, HIV, makes identification of new antiviral targets an urgent necessity. Host genes required to support the replication of HIV are a potential source of such novel targets, but relatively few appropriate target genes have been identified in animal cells thus far. A new study, conducted by Dr. Suzanne Sandmeyer and colleagues...

MUHC researchers make cancer target breakthrough

Researchers at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), in Montreal, have identified a new gene to combat cancer. In a new study, published in the on-line edition of the journal Clinical Cancer Research this week, the researchers document a reduction in the growth of both colon and lung cancer tumors with inhibition of the gene. The new target gene is called methylenetetrahydrofolate re...

Future diabetes drugs may target new protein interaction

In the March 3 issue of Nature, Johns Hopkins researchers report that two proteins best known for very different activities actually come together to turn the liver into a sugar-producing factory when food is scarce. Because the liver's production of sugar is a damaging problem in people with diabetes, the proteins' interaction might be a target for future drugs to fight the disease, the research...

'Smart drug' targets deadly brain cancer

A study led by Mayo Clinic researchers and conducted by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) reports that a new "smart" drug treatment for an incurable form of recurrent brain cancer slowed tumor growth in more than one-third of the 65 adult patients who tried it. The same research team also developed a screening technique to help predict which patients will respond best to this treat...

Butterfly migration could be largest known

Millions of painted lady butterflies that fluttered into California's Central Valley in the last week of March could be just the advance guard of one of the largest migrations of the species on record, said Arthur Shapiro, a professor and expert on butterflies at UC Davis. Shapiro said he is getting reports of "bill...

NHGRI targets 12 more organisms for genome sequencing

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today that the Large-Scale Sequencing Research Network will begin sequencing 12 more strategically selected organisms, including the marmoset, a skate and several important insects, as part of its ongoing effort to expand understanding of the human genome. The National Advisory...

While on trail of dioxin, scientists pinpoint cancer target of green tea

Green tea appears to protect against cancer by affecting a "promiscuous" protein that pharmaceutical experts are already targeting in an effort to develop a new drug to stop the disease, scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found. The research, which buttresses beliefs about the health benefits of green tea with solid scientific evidence, has been cited as part of the bes...

Amazon symposium to address large-scale conservation

On July 19, 2005, at the Society of Conservation Biology annual meetings, in Brasília, Brazil, the Woods Hole Research Center and the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia (IPAM) will hold an international symposium on the prospects for large-scale conservation of natural resources in the Amazon Basin. This region has entered a new era of natural resource destruction as the principle...

Moffitt-USF head toward first human trials of anti-cancer drug that targets protein AKT

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, working in partnership with the University of South Florida (USF), has discovered a new use for an old, previously discredited anti-cancer drug that could add another weapon in the arsenal against several cancers, including tumors of the breast, ovary, colon, skin and prostate. The compound, tricirbine, was tested at various cancer cen...

Enzyme's newly discovered role may make it target for arthritis treatment

Scientists have found a new role for a previously identified enzyme that may make it a target for anti-inflammatory treatments. The finding by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that an enzyme known as cathepsin G regulates the ability of immune cells known as neutrophils to secrete chemicals that attract other immune cells and start the local infla...

Researchers discover stem cell 'guide' that may be key for targeting neural stem cell treatments

UC Irvine School of Medicine researchers have discovered how new neurons born from endogenous neural stem cells are sent to regions of the brain where they can replace old and dying cells, a finding that suggests how stem cell therapies can be specifically targeted to brain regions affected by neurodegenerative diseases or by stroke. Associate Professor Qun-Yong Zhou and graduate student K...

Inhaling large amounts of salt can cause hypertension

Mathematical models have become invaluable decision-making tools for public health officials. As demonstrated during the United Kingdom's foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001, models can be useful in two ways: they can reveal the underlying characteristics of an infection and they can allow the comparison of alternative control measures. Often, however, such models make implicit assumptions that may s...

Virginia Tech group adds tools to DNA-targeted anti-cancer drugs

Chemistry and biology researchers at Virginia Tech have enhanced the abilities of the molecules they are creating to deliver killing blows to cancer cells. The man-made molecular complexes enter cancer cells and, when signaled, deliver killing medicine or cause the cell to change. The new supermolecules have more units that will absorb light - providing more control over the range of light freque...

Size matters: Preventing large mammal extinction

Saving large mammals such as elephants and rhino from extinction could be made more effective by focusing efforts on individual species as well as their habitats. Scientists at the Zoological Society of London's Institute of Zoology (IoZ) and Imperial College London have identified fundamental new approaches to improve the success of large mammal conservation. Published today in the journa...

Updated data on novel HPV vaccine confirms efficacy in large population

Updated data from a study on a promising new vaccine against a pre-cancerous cervical virus shows superior efficacy in preventing cervical pre-cancers and non-invasive cervical cancer, according to a study presented today during the American Association for Cancer Research's 4th Annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting in Baltimore. Final results of the phase III study, ori...

Carnegie Mellon University research reveals how cells process large genes

Important messages require accurate transmission. Big genes are especially challenging because they combine many coding segments (exons) that lie between long stretches of non-coding elements (introns). During processing, introns are snipped out and exons pasted together to form a template for proteins called messenger RNA (mRNA). Mistakes in RNA processing can reduce the expression of a function...

Affymetrix and ParAllele Launch Industry's Most Comprehensive Product Line for Targeted Genotyping

Twenty-eight years after intense selective logging stopped in the region now known as Uganda's Kibale National Park, the red-tailed guenon (Cercophithecus ascanius) is a primate still in decline. The logging practice, scientists report in a new study, changed the ecological balance for these monkeys, leading to behavioral changes and opening the door for multiple parasitic infections. The...

Treatments have same target, different responses for lung cancer patients with genetic mutation

The gene mutation that identifies the lung cancer patients most likely to respond to the drug gefitinib (Iressa) is not associated with a response to the drug cetuximab (Erbitux), according to a new study published in the August 17 issue of the Some patients with non�small-ce...

Novel targets found for the development of drugs to complement, or replace, statins

Leading marine scientists for the first time have assessed dolphin and porpoise populations around the world which are severely threatened by entanglement in fishing gear and recommended nine urgent priorities for action in a report commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund. These nine projects highlight species threatened by bycatch that will most likely benefit from immediate action and will cont...

Targeting a key enzyme with gene therapy reversed course of Alzheimer's disease in mouse models

Silencing Alzheimer's: targeting a key enzyme with gene therapy reversed course of disease in mouse modelsIn mice, that had been genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's disease, scientists were able to reverse the rodents' memory loss by reducing the amount of an enzyme that is crucial for the development of Alzheimer's disease. "What we are showing is a proof of principle that stopp...

Large-scale Computer Simulations Reveal New Insights Into Antibiotic Resistance

Novel use of genetic testing methods helped public health officials control and limit the further spread of four outbreaks of foodborne hepatitis A virus in 2003 related to the consumption of green onions, according to a detailed analysis published in the October 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. The authors of the study, Joseph J. Amon, PhD, MSPH, and c...

Two designer drugs hit same lung cancer target, but only one is effective

Two designer cancer drugs differed dramatically in a laboratory test comparing their ability to shut down a mutant, overactive growth signal in lung cancer cells, reports a team headed by scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Although both drugs killed cells containing a normal but overactive EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) molecule, only gefitinib (Iressa) killed lung ca...

Protein amplification in melanoma is possible drug target

A newly discovered gene mutation may account for many cases of immune deficiency, in particular two syndromes known as immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency and Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID), report researchers in the July issue of Nature Genetics. The discovery may lead to a new diagnostic test for these conditions, which make people highly susceptible to infections and often go unrecogniz...

Vaccine targets tumors where they live

Vaccine strategies are being designed to battle cancer, but their use for metastatic melanoma is a challenge. Effective vaccines against established tumors require tumor-reactive T cells to traffic to the sites of the tumors and are locally activated there in order to kill cancer cells. A problem is that the T cells lose their tumor-killing power once they reach the environment surrounding the tu...

Tiny avalanche photodiodes target bioterrorism agents

After the anthrax attacks in the United States in 2001 the threat of a larger and more deadly bioterrorism attack -- perhaps from smallpox, plague or tularemia -- became very real. But the ability to detect such biological agents and rapidly contain an attack is still being developed. In a significant finding, researchers at Northwestern University's Center for Quantum Devices have demonst...

Study findings offer potential new targets for antibiotics

A new study of genetic changes in bacteria may ultimately help drug makers stay a step ahead of disease-causing bacteria that can become resistant to antibiotics. Many currently used antibiotics alter a ribosome's ability to make proteins, said Kurt Fredrick, a s...

Dendritic cells offer new therapeutic target for drugs to treat MS and other autoimmune disease

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have found that a gene pathway linked to a deadly form of leukemia may provide a new way to treat autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis. Their tests in cell cultures and mice suggest that blocking the pathway by interfering with a blood cell growth gene, known as FLT3, targets an immune system cell often ignored in favor of T-cell t...