Attacking cancer's sweet tooth is effective strategy against tumors
An ancient avenue for producing cellular energy, the glycolytic pathway, could provide a surprisingly rich target for anti-cancer therapies. A team of Harvard Medical School (HMS) researchers knocked down one of the pathway's enzymes, LDHA, in a variety of fast-growing breast cancer cells, effectively shutting down glycolysis, and implanted the cells in mice. Control animals carrying tumo...Fire ant-attacking fly spreading rapidly in Texas
Parasitic flies introduced to control red imported fire ants have spread over four million acres in central and southeast Texas since the flies' introduction in 1999, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered using new flytraps they developed. Researchers at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory (BFL) have released multiple species of the parasitic flies, originally fro...Genetics helps in attacking cancer
According to a new study, a trial of a new anti-cancer drug interacts with specific genes, which may help refine future treatments. Ceflatonin, a natural product, is being tested as an anti-cancer treatment. Meanwhile, the US company ChemGenex is looking at the effect of the drug on the genes that are activated in cancer. They find that specific genes and cellular pathways are affected by ceflat...Attacking therapy with electricity
The holes in the cell membranes which is being punched by electrical pulses could give better delivery of drugs. The effectiveness of many potentially powerful treatments //including cancer therapy and gene therapy are limited by the difficulty of getting drug molecules in through cell membranes. Researchers in San Diego, California, have been developing a new way of delivering drugs called elec...Scientists Discover Ways To Block Virus From Attacking Cells
Researchers from David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA had found out the peptides that ward off viruses from entering the cells. First identified more than 20 years ago at UCLA, defensins are peptides naturally produced by the immune system // to ward off viruses. However, it was unclear how defensins worked. Now UCLA and NIH scientists have discovered that a specific defensin called r...