Promising

Another Look Finds Promising Proteomics Test is Not Biologically Plausible

In a new study, researchers present a “cautionary tale?about what may go wrong when using the fledgling science of proteomics to devise a diagnostic test for cancer. In the February 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center detail why an experimental test intended to identify early ovarian cancer from a...

Gene vaccine for Alzheimer's disease shows promising results

UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallasresearchers have found a way of stimulating the immune systems of miceto fight against amyloid proteins that cause the devastating plaquesthat are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.For years scientists have examined the possibility of using aprotein-based vaccine to slow the progression of the disease in itsearly stages. UT Southwestern researcher...

Gene therapy promising for growing tooth-supporting bone

A University of Michigan research team has found that introducing a growth factor protein into a mouth wound using gene therapy helped generate bone around dental implants, according to a new paper in the February issue of the journal Molecular Therapy. In a patient with a sizeable mouth wound, replacing a tooth takes more than simply implanting a new one---the patient also needs the bone...

Promising new West Nile therapy cures disease in mice

West Nile virus alarmed Americans when it made its first U.S. appearance in New York City in 1999. It has since spread from coast to coast, sickened more than 16,000 Americans and killed more than 600. As the virus spread, medical investigators hastened research to develop an effective vaccine or therapy. None currently exist, but a newly published paper by researchers at Washington University in...

Silence the gene, save the cell: RNA interference as promising therapy for ALS

Scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have used RNA interference in transgenic mice to silence a mutated gene that causes inherited cases of amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), substantially delaying both the onset and the progression rate of the fatal motor neuron disease. Their results will be published in the April issue of Nature Medicine, and in the...

Researchers find promising cancer-fighting power of synthetic cell-signaling molecule

Novel anti-cancer compounds called Enigmols suppress the growth of human cell lines representing cancers of the prostate, breast, colon, ovary, pancreas, brain and blood, and reduce tumors in three animal studies, new research shows. In addition, Enigmols did not show side effects at effective doses, according to the research conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory Universi...

Researchers develop promising new gene network analysis method

Compared with a long-used linear model, a correlation-based statistical method is a more reliable way to map complex gene interactions and pinpoint genes that may be potential cancer treatment targets, according to new Brown University research. The research is important because it describes a promising new tool for tracing human gene connections, a task critical for understanding and tre...

Promising therapies for haemophilia & heart disease

Haemophilia is a hereditary blood disease, primarily affecting males, where the blood fails to clot causing potentially life-threatening 'bleeds'. About one in 6000 Australian males is born with haemophilia in severe, moderate or mild form. People with haemophilia rely on intravenous infusion of recombinant Factor VIII clotting protein. Professor Denisa Wagner and her Harvard colleagues ha...

Discarded placentas deliver researchers promising cells similar to embryonic stem cells

Routinely discarded as medical waste, placental tissue could feasibly provide an abundant source of cells with the same potential to treat diseases and regenerate tissues as their more controversial counterparts, embryonic stem cells, suggests a University of Pittsburgh study to be published in the journal Stem Cells and available now as an early online publication in Stem Cells Express. A...

NIAID researchers show how promising TB drug works

Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have determined how a promising drug candidate attacks the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB). Published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the finding may help scientists optimize the drug candidate, PA-824, which targets Mycobacteri...

New study reveals promising osteoporosis treatment

A New York University College of Dentistry professor has developed a calcium phosphate-based supplement that -- even at low concentrations -- significantly improves bone strength and thickness without the side effects of many current drug treatments. Dr. Racquel Z. LeGeros, a Professor of Biomaterials and Biomimetics and of Implant Dentistry, presented her research on the supplement at the Americ...

Mechanism identified for promising neurological drug

Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center have identified the mechanism by which minocycline, a medication currently being studied for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, protects brain and nerve cells from damage. In the study, conducted in cell culture, the team determined that the drug blocks the action of poly(ADP...

Promising cell protein may play role in infection and dry eye

Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Type 2 (PAI-2), a protein found in various cell types including the skin, has been discovered in the tissue covering the eye and may have future clinical implications in various pathologies of the ocular surface such as eye infection or dry eye, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. The researchers, led by Mina Mas...

New research promising for improving brain cell survival after brain injury

Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have found a protein in the brain that can save neurons from dying after experiencing traumatic brain injury from incidents such as stroke, car accidents and falls. The team, led by Professor Seong-Seng Tan, has discovered that thisnaturally occurring protein, called BP5, is produced more than usual in brain cells after they have experienc...

Combination therapy shows promising results in patients with advanced lung cancer

An early phase study pairing an experimental targeted therapy with a common anti-inflammatory produced promising results in patients with advanced lung cancer, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center reported. Pairing the targeted therapy Tarceva with the anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex increased response rates in lung cancer patients by about three-fold, said Dr. Karen Reckamp, an as...

Analysis of breast-cancer gene role offers promising target

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have for the first time described how multiple copies of a gene are responsible for metastases in early-stage breast cancer and poor prognosis for patients. , the gene, called uPAR, offers a promising target for therapeutic drugs to stop o...

Vaccine for brain tumors shows promising results

A vaccine for treating a recurrent cancer of the central nervous system that occurs primarily in the brain, known as glioma, has shown promising results in preliminary data from a clinical trial at UCSF Medical Center. Findings from the first group of six patients in the study, being conducted at the UCSF Brain Tumor Research Center, showed that vitespen (trademarked as Oncophage), a vacci...

Brown seaweed contains promising fat fighter, weight reducer

The study, which was directed by Scripps Research Professor Benjamin Cravatt, Ph.D., is being published in the September 8 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry. The new study describes a pathway-different than the one previously suggested-for the biosynthesis of neurotransmitter lipids, N-acyl ethanolamines (NAEs), which include the endogenous cannabinoid ("endocannabinoid") ananda...

New study suggests promising drug combinations for sleeping sickness

Results from a clinical trial evaluating new drug combinations for sleeping sickness, carried out by the international humanitarian medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), and its research arm, Epicentre, have now been published in the journal PLoS Clinical Trials. African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness affects many tens of thousands of people each year in sub-Sahara...

Preliminary study finds holographic imaging system promising for cancer treatment planning

The device looks like something out of an old science fiction movie, but researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago say it holds promise in the treatment of cancer. The Perspecta® Spatial 3D system, developed by Actuality Systems, Inc., creates holographic images inside a 24-inch dome. The full-color, full-motion system can display images of the body revealing the exact loc...

UCSF brain tumor vaccine trial shows promising results

A vaccine for treating a recurrent cancer of the central nervous system that occurs primarily in the brain has shown promise in preliminary data from a clinical trial at the University of California, San Francisco. Known as a glioma, this cancerous tumor is always fatal. Findings from a group of 12 study patients showed that vitespen vaccination (trademarked as Oncophage) was effective...

A new plant-bacterial symbiotic mechanism promising for crop applications

The growth of most plants depends on the presence of sufficient amounts of nitrogen contained in the soil. However, a family of plants, the legumes, is partially free of this constraint thanks to its ability to live in association with soil bacteria of the Rhizobium, genus, capable of fixing nitrogen from the air. When these bacteria come into contact with their host plant, they trigger in the...