With graduate student Maria Elena De Obaldia, Bhandoola describes in Nature Immunology this month how Notch signaling induces expression of genes that promote the maturation of T cells and discourage alternative cell fates. …
In a recent Genome Biology paper, Susztak, and her co-corresponding author John Greally from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, found, in a genome-wide survey, significant differences in the pattern of chemical modifications on DNA that affect gene expression in kidney cells from patients with chronic kidney disease versus healthy controls. This is the first study to show that changes in these modifications – the cornerstone of the field of epigenetics – might explain chronic kidney disease. Epigenetics is the science of how gene activity can be altered without actual changes in the DNA sequence. …
Using a new strategy, UC San Francisco researchers have succeeded in making small molecules that irreversibly target a mutant form of this protein, called ras, without binding to the normal form. This feature distinguishes the molecules from all other targeted drug treatments in cancer, according to the researchers. When tested on human lung cancer cells grown in culture, the molecules efficiently killed the ras-driven cancer cells. …
The epigenetic changes examined highlight different patterns in DNA methylation, which involves the chemical modification of DNA and acts in the control of gene expression. While DNA methylation is a normal and necessary epigenetic process, breast tumors exhibit altered methylation patterns compared to normal breast tissue. Accordingly, atypical DNA methylation marks are recognized to precede cancer initiation…
The technique can identify the founding mutations from which a tumour evolved and then uses computer software to draw a map of the cancer’s family tree. Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute used DNA sequencing to identify a panel of mutations present across thousands of cancer cells in three patients with leukaemia…
In a study published online by the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, a team led by Liza Makowski, assistant professor with the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Sneha Sundaram, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in the Makowski Lab, outlined the biological mechanisms where obesity can create a favorable environment for the growth of basal-like breast cancer tumors. "Obesity is widespread and is one of the few risk factors for breast cancer that we may be able to control, hence our intention in this study was to better understand the molecular mechanisms and/or biomarkers of obesity-related basal like breast cancer that could impact disease prevention," said Dr…
Skin tumors — when healing of scratches and cuts goes wrong The skin is the largest organ of the human body, protecting us from dehydration and external impacts. It’s a self-renewing tissue, meaning that if we hurt ourselves for example by scraping or cutting our skin, new skin cells will replace the old damaged ones and our wound will heal. On a molecular level this process is controlled by a wide range of factors, ensuring that the right number of undifferentiated progenitor cells differentiate into skin cells and make their way to replace the old damaged ones. If something goes wrong during this process, pathologies, including skin tumors, can be the consequence…
According to the researchers, the human nuclear export protein chromosomal region maintenance/exportin 1/Xpo1 (CRM1) is the sole exportin mediating transport of many multiple tumor suppressor proteins out of the nucleus. Their study aimed to verify the hypothesis that CRM1 inhibition could be beneficial for the treatment of prostate cancer metastases, which was achieved by testing the effects of the orally available, potent and selective, clinical stage SINE compound KPT 330. "Although the class of compounds used in our studies — SINEs or Selective Inhibitors of Nuclear Export — have just recently entered early clinical testing, our results suggest that these agents could be active in patients with androgen-independent prostate cancer," commented study’s lead author Dr. …
In a developing embryo, many bones form based on cartilage templates. The study found that to form these templates, Lkb1 protein controls the progression of immature, dividing cartilage cells into larger, mature and fully differentiated cartilage cells. Without Lkb1, the population of immature cartilage cells disproportionately increases, leading to skeletal tumors. …
The immune system is complex and a number of genetic diseases are attributed to defects in the cells that form its origins. The study from Lund and Oxford University presents unique findings on the formation of these cells. We know that the first blood stem cells are formed in the aorta region and then travel to the liver, which is the body’s major blood-forming organ during the fetal stage…