Gene Fusions May Drive Certain Cancers

Prostate cell findings could reveal targets for future treatments MONDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they have discovered genes in prostate cancer cells that fuse when their chromosomes trade places with each other, an occurrence that may initiate the development of so...

Cell Fusions During Inflammation May Protect Neurons

Surprise finding could lead to new gene therapies for nervous system WEDNESDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- Chronic inflammation triggers cell fusions that may protect neurons, according to a Stanford University School of Medicine study. In research with mice, the Stanford team fou...

Assessment of Bone Growth Stimulator Is Mixed

...ng the front part of the neck -- anterior cervical fusions -- when BMP was used. "In the neck, there's no...ent. The study also found that costs for spinal fusions were higher when BMP was used. Inpatient hospital ...reduced because many surgeons aren't using BMP for fusions in that area or are using smaller doses of the bio...

Confectionery Industry Forecast Is Sweet: Globally Inspired Flavors, Eco-Friendly and Health Minded Trends Lead New Product Innovations

... growth of the industry through 2014. Top line category trends include: Chocolate explosion Health benefits Flavor fusions International influences So, what's next? Experts believe that the next "big" trend in confections will be heal...

Artificial Ankle Takes Giant Step Forward

...osthesis when giving a speech on ankle replacements -- specifically, ankle fusions -- at a conference in Denmark. "Ankle fusions work pretty well, but you don't have a lot of motion," Mann said. "You have...

Gene fusion discovery may lead to improved prostate cancer test

...g evaluated in multiple early clinical trials in the United States and Europe. Novel Gene Fusion Sheds Light on How Cancer Works Unlike the gene fusions previously found in cancers, which arise when two chromosomes join together in an abnormal way, the new fusion occurs when the genes are being copied ...

Compendia Bioscience Releases Oncomine Concepts Edition 4.0

...cess and in-depth analysis of curated cancer genomics data. Oncomine has led to several major cancer research discoveries such as the presence of gene fusions in the majority of prostate cancers ( Cancer Cell, Volume 13 Issue 6: June 2008. Nature , Aug 2 2007). "In accumulating so much high-value dat...

Tests Might Diagnose, Predict Prostate Cancer

...ped a urine test that can identify particular gene fusions associated with prostate cancer. The gene fusions involve the TMPRSS2 gene and the ERG gene. This pa...st," he said. "Another exciting aspect of the gene fusions is that they potentially provide an explanation fo...

Unnecessary Spinal Surgery Will Waste Billions of Dollars in 2009 and Patients Will Continue to Suffer Unless the Primary Cause of Most Back Pain is Treated, Says Pain Specialist Norman Marcus, M.D.

...ten the muscles and make them flexible -- and pain free. Dr. Marcus believes that a large percent of all spinal surgeries are unnecessary (spinal fusions are being performed as many as 20 times more often in some parts of the United States as in others) and finds it "disturbing" that the number continue...

Pitt-led research provides insight into development of congenital circulatory defects

... including the brain, lungs, spinal cord, and liver. By diverting blood, the misconnections rob parts of the body of nutrients and oxygen. The fragile fusions are prone to rupturing and hemorrhaging; a ruptured AVM in the brain can cause a stroke. "We discover AVMs in humans when something goes wrong and ...

Researchers ID Traits of Aggressive Prostate Cancer

...chigan Health System found excess amounts of a gene called SPINK1 (serine peptidase inhibitor, Kazal type 1) in prostate cancers that do not have gene fusions of unrelated cells, a condition that plays a role in at least 50 percent of prostate cancer cases. This led them to believe that SPINK1 is a biomarker...

Microenvironment a main driver of aggressive multi-lineage leukemia disease type

.... The discovery came about as they focused on the most common fusion partner in MLL, a gene called AF9. Previous research showed patients with MLL-AF9 fusions almost exclusively get AML, have an intermediate to poor prognosis, and that leukemia expressing MLL-AF9 is considered a more aggressive disease resis...

U-M researchers discover traits of aggressive form of prostate cancer

... Before this discovery, it was thought that gene fusions only occurred in blood cancers, such as leukemias ...hinnaiyan's discovery demonstrated that these gene fusions could be found in solid tumors and has opened an e...U-M has filed for a patent on prostate cancer gene fusions and SPINK1 as biomarkers of prostate cancer on whi...

China Medical Technologies Completed the Development of Prostate Cancer FISH Reagent

... the Kit in July 2008. The Kit is designed to detect TMPRSS2 and ETS gene fusions in prostate pathological tissues. Dysregulation of ETS family members throu...RG probes and TMPRSS2/ETV4 probes. Studies have shown that TMPRSS2/ETS gene fusions occur in approximately 80 percent of prostate cancer cases, indicating that...

Notch controls bone formation and strength

...patients who suffer from a problem called spondylocostal dysplasia. These children and adults have problems with the pattern of their spine. They have fusions of parts of the spine or ribs. Several years ago, other scientists showed that a mutation of the pathway for Notch causes some of these problems. Our...

Boston Research Summit gathers 100 health care leaders on decision making

...national variations in the rate of surgery, including cardiac, spinal, hysterectomy and appendectomy procedures, for example, the U.S. performs spinal fusions at a rate almost five fold greater than the next leading countryand women have a higher rate of spinal fusion comparatively. Variations in U.S...

Facet Solution's AFRS(TM) Implant Demonstrates Positive Clinical Results After One Year Follow Up

...herwise lose significant motion using current fusion or dynamic stabilization devices," Dr. Oliviera stated. "In fact, many of my patients were having fusions and would come back four and five years later needing a subsequent fusion at adjacent levels as a result of the reduction in motion at the original fu...

Insights into Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia

...aracterized the transformation mechanisms involved in APL by functionally separating homodimerization and the intrinsic DNA-binding properties of RARA fusions from transformation of primary blood cells. The researchers found that homodimerization was not sufficient for RARA fusion-mediated transform...

Swell Gel May Bring Respite From Back Pain

...also where they can get back their mobility and flexibility after getting spinal injections. This process is said to be better when compared to spinal fusions which is a surgical procedure where the recovery period is long and there is a loss of mobility at the fused and adjacent discs. When intervertebr...

MDCT Compared to Digital Radiography in Orthopedic Patients

...s at the Medical University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria. Forty-three patients with histories of fractures, arthrodesis (joint fusion) or spinal fusions who'd undergone MDCT and conventional radiography for the evaluation of bone healing were included in this study. Mutiplanar reconstructions and radio...

Switching Off Protein Could Play Key Role In Success Of Radiation Therapy For Cancer

...t functioning properly in cells, it can lead to genomic instability and result in the malignant transformation of cells," Pandita commented. "In fact, fusions at the telomeric ends of chromosomes like those seen in the absence of Rad9 appear frequently in tumor tissues." Main Article: Pandita RK, Sharma G...

Inactivation of Rad9 in Tumor Cells Would Be Advantageous In Cancer Therapy

...h mutations in Rad9 as these mutations could predispose a person to cancer because it results in genomic instability and result in cancer. These fusions at the telomeric ends of chromosomes are frequently seen in tumor tissues. In conclusion Rad9 functions both as a key factor to prevent tumor formatio...