Tag Archives: protein

3-D vaccine spontaneously assembles to pack a powerful punch against cancer, infectious diseases

“This vaccine is a wonderful example of applying biomaterials to new questions and issues in medicine,” says David Mooney, Ph.D., a professor of bioengineering at Harvard University in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, whose lab developed the vaccine. The project was co-led by Jaeyun Kim, Ph.D. and Aileen Li, a doctoral student in the Mooney lab. Their findings were published in the December 8, 2014 issue of Nature Biotechnology. …

Cancer’s ability to ‘hijack’ regulatory mechanism increases metastasis

Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have found that one component of this human scaffolding called collagen “cross-links” can determine a tumor’s ability to grow and spread. These cross-links of protein complexes enable connective tissue cells known as “stroma” to stiffen, stimulating tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Study results were published in today’s online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation…

Plant extract fights brain tumor

Scientists around G�nter Stalla, endocrinologist at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, now discovered in cell cultures, animal models and human tumour tissue that a harmless plant extract can be applied to treat Cushing Disease. “Silibinin is the major active constituent of milk thistle seeds. It has an outstanding safety profile in humans and is already used for the treatment of liver disease and poisoning,” explains Marcelo Paez-Pereda, leading scientist of the current study published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine. After silibinin treatment, tumour cells resumed normal ACTH production, tumour growth slowed down and symptoms of Cushing Disease disappeared in mice…

Scientists home in on reasons behind cancer drug trial disappointment

Numerous angiopoietin-blocking therapies, which work to starve the tumour of its blood supply, are currently in clinical trials for ovarian cancer and other cancers. But despite promising earlier results, some of these therapies are not improving patient survival as much as was expected…

Chemo effect on brain cells pinpointed; potential link to autism

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how the common chemotherapy drug topotecan can drastically suppress the expression of Topoisomerase-1, a gene that triggers the creation of proteins essential for normal brain function. Specifically, the drug tamps down the proteins that are necessary for neurons to communicate through synapses. However, the researchers found that the protein levels and synaptic communication return to normal when the drug is removed. …

Chlamydia knock out body’s own cancer defense

Hundreds of mutations occur every day in almost every cell in our body. The protein p53 is then activated in order to limit these changes in the genome: either the cell repairs the damaged DNA or, if that is not possible, it triggers the cellular suicide program. In this way, cells are normally protected against the development of cancer. As the Berlin-based team at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology reported last year, chlamydial infections lead to a drastic increase in the mutation rate. …

New imaging technique identifies receptors for targeted cancer therapy

“Protein overexpression is a hallmark of certain cancers and is used in clinical oncology to personalize treatment through tumor detection, molecular therapies, and therapeutic monitoring,” said lead author Kimberley S. Samkoe, assistant professor of Surgery at the Geisel School of Medicine and adjunct assistant professor at Thayer School of Engineering. “Protein expression is currently measured through a total protein analysis of tumor tissue. This new technique allows us to accurately determine the amount of protein receptors available for binding a drug without invasive biopsy.” The researchers developed a dual-tracer in vivo receptor concentration imaging (RCI) technique that involves the simultaneous injection of both a targeted and a non-targeted imaging agent. …

Furin: The answer to the ebola crises?

Furin is responsible for activating certain proteins and is involved in the processing and maturation of viral and bacterial preproteins. Indeed, the strength of Furin activity has already been recognised, and used previously by scientists to propose broad anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-cancer treatments. This study used the binding site of human Furin in molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Author of the study, Omotuyi Olaposi, a lecturer in Biochemistry at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria, explains that the experiment ‘may provide further insight to the design of novel drugs for Ebola virus disease treatment’…

Researchers engineer ‘smart bomb’ to attack childhood leukemia

In a November study in the new peer-reviewed, open-access journal EBioMedicine, they describe how this approach could eventually prove lifesaving for children who have relapsed after initial chemotherapy and face a less than 20 percent chance of long-term survival. “We knew that we could kill chemotherapy-resistant leukemia cells if we only knew what made them so resistant…