Tag Archives: national

Chemists’ work will aid drug design to target cancer and inflammatory disease

The researchers, from the lab of Charles Dann III, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dann said the results should help chemists create more effective antifolate drugs, which act by interfering with the ability of folates — also called folic acid or vitamin B9 — to perform tasks that are essential for cell growth. …

Study suggests pattern in lung cancer pathology may predict cancer recurrence after surgery

According to the study’s authors, the findings offer the first scientific evidence that may not only help surgeons identify which patients are more likely to benefit from less radical lung-sparing surgery, but which patients will benefit from more extensive surgery, potentially reducing the risk of lung cancer recurrence by 75 percent. The study will be published in the August 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute…

Why tumors become drug-resistant

A new study from MIT reveals that much of this resistance develops because a protein called AXL helps cancer cells to circumvent the effects of ErbB inhibitors, allowing them to grow unchecked. The findings suggest that combining drugs that target AXL and ErbB receptors could offer a better way to fight tumors, says Doug Lauffenburger, the Ford Professor of Bioengineering, head of MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering and an affiliate member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research…

Genetics: More than merely a mutated gene

In the current issue of PLoS Genetics, Michigan State University genetic scientists have begun to understand how the rest of the genome interacts with such mutations to cause the differences we see among individuals. "It’s been known for a while that genetic mutations can modify each other’s effects," said Ian Dworkin, MSU associate professor of zoology and co-author of the paper. "And we also know that the subtle differences in an individual’s genome — what scientists call wild type genetic background — also affects how mutations are manifested." Dworkin and Sudarshan Chari, zoology doctoral student and the paper’s lead author, wanted to know how common it was for wild type genetic background to alter the way genetic mutations interact with each other. …

Scientists analyze genetic makeup of human and mouse embryos in amazing detail

The technique could lead to earlier and more accurate diagnoses of genetic diseases, even when the embryo consists of only eight cells. The study was led by Guoping Fan, professor of human genetics and molecular biology and member of both the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research. The findings were published in the online edition of the journal Nature and will appear later in the print edition…

Learning from a virus: Keeping genes under wraps

The discoveries improve the chances of developing more targeted therapies in place of existing drugs, which do not always work or come with side effects. Experts estimate that 60 to 90 percent of the world’s population carry the human cytomegalovirus, or CMV, which is one of the eight herpes viruses that infect humans…

Potent compound kills prostate cancer cells

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death among men in the United States. One treatment option for these patients is castration — the chemical or surgical removal of the testes — which reduces the production of the male sex hormone testosterone…

Could sleeping stem cells hold key to treatment of aggressive blood cancer?

The finding offers the potential that these stem cells could somehow be turned back on, offering a new form of treatment for the condition, called Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The work was led by scientists at Queen Mary, University of London with the support of Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute…