BRAK

New component of the 'brakes' on nerve regeneration found

Among the principal obstacles to regenerating spinal cord and brain cells after injury is the "braking" machinery in neurons that prevents regeneration. While peripheral nerves have no such machinery and can readily regenerate, central nervous system (CNS) neurons have their brakes firmly in place and locked. Now, two groups of scientists have independently found a new component of that b...

New understanding of cell movement may yield ways to brake cancer's spread

From birth until death, our cells migrate: nerve cells make their vital connections, embryonic cells move to the proper places to form organs, immune cells zero in to destroy pathogenic organisms, and cancer cells metastasize, spreading deadly disease through the body. Scientists studying these migrations didn't know how cells determined where to go. Until now. A Burnham Institute study ha...

New brain hormone puts brakes on reproduction

University of California, Berkeley, researchers have discovered a new actor in the mammalian reproductive system, a hormone that fills a role long suspected, but until now undetected. The hormone, a small protein, or peptide, called gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH), puts the brakes on reproduction by directly inhibiting the action of the central hormone of the reproductive system - g...

Researchers find molecular 'brake' to cell death

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have significantly refined the scientific understanding of how a cell begins the process of self-destruction - an advance they say may help in the design of more targeted cancer therapies. In the June 30 issue of the journal Cell, the research team found that a natural "brake" exists in a cell to prevent it fr...

PTEN: the Treg's handbrake

Naturally occurring CD4+CD25+ Tregs are a specialized subpopulation of T cells that function to prevent other T cells destroying self-tissues. But harnessing the therapeutic potential of Tregs -- for example, to treat autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis -- is hampered by problems generating sufficient cells to be therapeutically effective. This is because, unlike non-reg...

Molecular motors and brakes work together in cells

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that microtubules -- components responsible for shape, movement, and replication within cells -- use proteins that act as molecular motors and brakes to organize into their correct structure. If microtubules are not formed properly such basic functions as cell division and transport can go wrong, which may have impli...