Tri

Viral DNA sequence a possible trigger for breast cancer

A small sequence of DNA in the envelope (Env) protein of a mouse breast tumor virus (called MMTV) can transform breast cells into cancer cells, according to a study by Katz et al. in the February 7 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine. The ability of this motif to transform cells single-handedly suggests that viral infection may be an important and previously unrecognized trigger for bre...

Scientists ID molecular 'switch' in liver that triggers harmful effects of saturated and trans fats

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers have identified a molecular mechanism in the liver that explains, for the first time, how consuming foods rich in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids causes elevated blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides and increases one's risk of heart disease and certain cancers. In the Jan. 28 issue of Cell, scientists led by Bruce Spiegelman, PhD, rep...

FDA Approves Human Hookworm Vaccine for Phase I Safety Trials

As any dedicated video game player knows, the first requireme...

Source of molecular triggers in cutaneous T cell lymphoma identified

In a study published in the journal Blood, Yale scientists identify the molecular triggers that stimulate Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma (CTCL) cells to clonally expand into large populations of malignant lymphocytes. CTCL is the most common adult malignancy of T lymphocytes, the white blood cells of the immune system. Finding CTCL triggering factors has been a major goal of Richard L. Edelson...

Poor prenatal nutrition permanently damages function of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas

Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered one reason why infants with low birth weight have a high potential of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. In studies of mice, the researchers found that poor prenatal nutrition impairs the pancreas's ability to later secrete enough insulin in response to blood glucose. "The bottom line is that if you don't have delivery of enough...

Newly-discovered class of genes determines ?and restricts ?stem cell fate

Research on adult stem cells found in the skin hints at a new class of genes, according to a study from investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. These genes ?dubbed pangenes ?can both govern a stem cell's fate and put a hold on future differentiation until the time is right. Understanding the molecular control of these genes has implications for therapies that involve t...

Affymetrix Unveils Plans to Double Plant and Animal Genome Microarray Offering

Sacramento - Today, Affymetrix, Inc.announced plans to make eight new GeneChip(R) plant and animal genomearrays available in 2005 as part of its Consortia Program, includingcanine, Rhesus macaque, Medicago trancatula (legume), Brassica, tomato,citrus, poplar and sugar cane. More than 20 research presentations atthis week's Plant and Animal Genome Conference XIII in San Diego,Calif. feature...

Inflammatory molecules released by pollen trigger allergies

How do pollen particles provoke allergic reactions? A new study in the February 21 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine puts some of the blame on bioactive molecules that are released from pollen. These molecules bind to immune cells and cause them to launch a typical allergy-promoting immune response. Pollen from plants exposed to air pollutants produce more of these allergy-provoking c...

Study identifies predictors of HIV drug resistance in patients beginning triple therapy

A scientist at the Marine BiologicalLaboratory (MBL) has published the results of an EPA-funded clam embryostudy that supports her hypothesis that, when combined, the pollutantsbromoform, chloroform, and tetrachloroethylene--a chemical cocktailknown as BCE--can act synergistically to alter a key regulator in nervecell development. While scientists have previously studied the effectsof these...

New Study from Affymetrix Laboratories Points to Changing View of How Genome Works

Scientists at Affymetrix, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX) reported today in Science magazine online that they have completed a high-resolution scan of structure and function for nearly 30 percent of the human genome sequence. In collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, the research team used high-density GeneChip(R) microarrays to study every fifth base, on average, of 10 human chromosomes; they fou...

NIAID Initiates Trial of Experimental Avian Flu Vaccine

Fast-track recruitment has begun for a trial to investigate the safety of a vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today. Sites in Rochester, NY, Baltimore and Los Angeles will enroll a total of 450 healthy adults. The clinical sites are part of the NIAID-sponsored V...

International trial of two microbicides begins

A large, multisite trial designed to examine the safety and preliminary effectiveness of two candidate topical microbicides to prevent HIV infection has opened to volunteer enrollment. The trial, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, represents a partnership among various research institutions in Africa and the U...

Bird Brains Show How Trial and Error May Contribute to Learning

The adult male zebra finch knows only one scratchy tune learned in its youth, which it performs repeatedly and intensely when females are listening. But occasionally, the finch might improvise, experimenting with a slower, more sultry variation or emphasizing different notes. Neurobiologists studying the finch now say the improvisation arises from a component of a crucial learning circuit...

Key Trigger Of Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms Found

Researchers have discovered an important chemical in the brain's neuronal machinery that triggers some of the withdrawal symptoms of opioid drugs like morphine and heroin. They believe that drugs to inhibit the chemical--called a transporter--could relieve some of the early physical symptoms of withdrawal, such as teeth-chattering, uncontrolled shaking, and jumpiness. Such drugs could bec...

Affymetrix and the Karolinska Institutet Announce Translational Medicine Strategic Alliance

Affymetrix Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX - News) and Karolinska Institutet announced today that they have entered into a strategic alliance designed to improve healthcare by accelerating the translation of basic genetic research into tools for better diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. During the next five years the projects include genetic analyses and measurement of gene expression in patients wi...

Affymetrix and Stratagene Announce Strategic Software Alliance

announced today that they have entered into a non-exclusive strategic alliance under which Stratagene will provide Affymetrix customers with new software solutions for GeneChip(R) data analysis. As part of this agreement, Stratagene will develop a new software package for...

Opposing fat metabolism pathways triggered by a single gene

Regulating metabolism of fat is an important challenge for any animal, from nematodes to humans. Central players in the regulatory network are the nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs), which are transcription factors that turn on or off a set of target genes when bound by specific lipid molecules. In the premier open-access journal PLoS Biology, Keith Yamamoto and colleagues show that the nuclear hor...

Use of PET can reduce, may eliminate more strenuous drug development trials with animals

A number of articles explore the use of positron emission tomography (PET) and small animal imaging--nonsurgical techniques that open the door to understanding and treating human diseases--in the April issue of the Society of Nuclear Medicine's Journal of Nuclear Medicine. A major benefit of small animal imaging "is the ability to carry out many studies at various time points with the same...

HIV vaccine trial breaks ground for future research

The results of the world's first phase 3 HIV vaccine efficacy trial are reported in the March 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online. Although the vaccine was ineffective in preventing HIV infection, the trial represents a landmark in the fight against HIV and offers the scientific community a foundation on which to build future trials. The multi-centered tria...

Liposome finding implies electrical effect on cell development

Experiments with liposomes ?cell-like "water balloons" composed of artificially created phospholipid bilayers similar to natural cell membranes ?have revealed unexpected behavior in the presence of electrical fields that may provide a paradigm-shifting change in science's understanding of biomembrane function in operating living systems. Arizona State University chemists Mark Hayes and Mic...

Affymetrix Licenses Microfluidics Technology From Caliper Life Sciences

Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALP) and Affymetrix, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX) today announced that Caliper has issued Affymetrix a non-exclusive license to use a portion of Caliper's microfluidics patent estate with Affymetrix' GeneChip(R) microarray technologies. The license extends to the manufacture and sale of GeneChip brand products in all areas of application, including research, diagnosti...

Emergence of cancer as major cause of childhood death in developing countries is not being adequately addressed

The emergence of cancer as a major cause of death among children in developing regions of the world is not being adequately addressed by national or international health organizations and charities, according to investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This growing rate of pediatric cancer is occurring as the number of children dying from infectious diseases is being reduced throug...

Roche clinical trial registry and results database launched

Within only three months after deciding to create an electronic database, Roche is launching a public clinical trial registry and results database using an independent host, CenterWatch. On www.roche-trials.com information on Roche’s clinical trials can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, with no password restrictions. This site is designed to give patients and healthcare providers ready access to i...

The evolutionary triumph of flower power

Enjoying spring flowers? Flowers have flourished ?their beauty evolving over time ?simply because we like them, says Terry McGuire, associate professor of genetics at Rutgers and co-author of a paper that examines for the first time the whys and wherefores of flowering plants in an evolutionary context. While flowers originally came on the scene to attract potential pollinators like bugs...

Double triumph in stem cell quest

WITH great fanfare a South Korean team announced last week that it had used therapeutic cloning to create human embryonic stem cells that were genetically matched to specific people. But their technique could already be obsolete. Another team headed by Yuri Verlinsky of the Reproductive Genetics Institute, based in Chicago, claims to have produced patient-matched embryonic stem cells without reso...

Undesirable expatriates: Preventing the spread of invasive animals

Reconsider relocating aquarium fish into your backyard pond. Restrain yourself from ordering exotic pets off the Internet, no matter how interesting they might look in the pictures. And vote for politicians that encourage sound port inspection. Because, according to recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences article by Drs. Jonathan M. Jeschke and David L. Strayer, our best defense in...

NIAID begins clinical trial of West Nile virus vaccine

A small trial testing the safety of an experimental vaccine targeting West Nile virus (WNV) opened today at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD. The vaccine, which will be tested first in 15 healthy adult volunteers, was developed for human clinical studies by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' (NIAID) Vaccine Research C...

Multiple-drug resistant gene expression pattern predicts treatment outcome for pediatric leukemia

A new study is providing scientists with a better understanding of why some pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients fail to respond to treatment even when existing clinical predictive criteria point towards a positive treatment outcome. The research, published in the April issue of Cancer Cell, is likely to facilitate development of new strategies to combat drug resistance and treat...

South African Tribunal Asks For Damages Estimates in GSK AIDS Drug Case

A landmark South African legal complaint against British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) over its AIDS drug pricing and policies in that country will proceed following an order late last week by South Africa's Competition Tribunal that will allow the complaint to go forward. GSK has sought outright dismissal of the case; however, the Competition Tribunal issued an order last week giving the comp...

Protein prevents detrimental immune effects of bacterial sepsis

The anti-inflammatory protein annexin 1 may protect patients from the detrimental effects of severe inflammatory response syndrome, as reported by researchers at Barts and the London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry. The paper by Damazo et al., "Critical protective role for annexin 1 gene expression in the endotoxemic murine microcirculation," appears in the June issue of The Americ...

Affymetrix Launches New Globin-Reduction Kits and Protocol Developed with PreAnalytiX

Affymetrix Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX), announced today the launch of the new GeneChip(R) Globin-Reduction kits and associated protocol developed in conjunction with PreAnalytiX -- a joint venture between QIAGEN N.V. (Nasdaq: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). The new kits optimize the PreAnalytiX PAXgene(TM) Blood RNA System for use with Affymetrix GeneChip tec...

Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are now species of slime-mold beetles -- but strictly in homage

Drinking water during a long-distance race may do serious harm rather than keep you safe from injury if you're drinking too much, according to a cardiologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Runners or any long-distance athletes who drink too much water during a race could put themselves at jeopardy for developing hyponatremia, a condition marked by a loss in the body's sodium content th...

Distributed Basic Local Alignment Search Toolkit (W.ND-BLAST)

The current goal to reduce sickness and death from infections that patients acquire in hospitals has created a renewed focus on identifying ways to reduce the problem at its source. Hospital water for drinking, bathing, showering, to make ice cubes or to rinse medical equipment is increasingly being recognized as a significant source of microbes that may contribute to many of these life-threateni...

'EuroVacc 02' HIV Vaccine Trial Begins

Lausanne, Switzerland and London, United Kingdom, February 16, 2005 -- The European Vaccine Effort against HIV/AIDS today announced that a phase I clinical trial of novel investigational vaccines...

Affymetrix and bioMerieux Extend Their Agreement on GeneChip(R) Technology to Breast Cancer Diagnostics

Affymetrix Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFX) and bioMerieux announced today that Affymetrix has granted bioMerieux long-term and comprehensive access to its GeneChip(R) technology to develop and market in vitro diagnostic tests for breast cancer, as well as an option to expand the agreement into other cancer areas. The agreement, made under the Powered by Affymetrix(TM) program, gives bioMerieux non-exc...

Discovery of New Dopamine Action May Yield Alternative Psychiatric Drugs

Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which chronically high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine exert their effects on the brain. Normally associated with triggering feelings of pleasure, excess concentrations of dopamine underlie schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other psychiatric conditions. The findings therefore provide ne...

Immune system's distress signal tells bacteria when to strike back

The human opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, has broken the immune system's code, report researchers from the University of Chicago, enabling the bacteria to recognize when its host is most vulnerable and to launch an attack before the weakened host can muster its defenses. In the 29 July 2005 issue of Science, the researchers show how this lethal organism detects interferon-g...

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...

Revueltosaurus skeleton unearthed at Petrified Forest upsets dinosaur tale

The fossilized skeleton of a small crocodile relative excavated last year at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona throws a wrench into theories of how and where the dinosaurs arose more than 210 million years ago at the end of the Triassic Period. The animal, one of many creatures from the Late Triassic known only from their teeth, was thought to be an ancestor of the plant-eating or...

UNC plant researchers discover proteins interact to form hair-trigger protection against invaders

Experimenting with Arabidopsis, a fast-growing cousin of the humble mustard plant, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill got a big surprise while investigating how plants respond to attacks from disease organisms such as bacteria and viruses. "Contrary to what we thought we'd find, our experiments showed that at least three different proteins work in concert with on...