EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Modification of tumor suppressor affects sensitivity to potential GBM treatment
Biologists and oncologists have long understood that a protein called the epidermal growth factor receptor or EGFR is altered in at least 50 percent of patients with glioblastoma. Yet patients with glioblastoma either have upfront resistance or quickly develop resistance to inhibitors aimed at stopping the protein's function, suggesting that there is another signalling pathway at play.

Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Goldhirsh Foundation, National Institutes of Health, FAPESP

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Journal of Biological Chemistry
UC Davis researchers identify cellular basis for how anti-aging costmetics work
A team of investigators from UC Davis and Peking University have discovered a mechanism that may explain how alpha hydroxyl acids (AHAs) -- the key ingredient in cosmetic chemical peels and wrinkle-reducing creams -- work to enhance skin appearance. An understanding of the underlying process may lead to better cosmetic formulations as well as have medical applications.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Antisense approach promising for treatment of parasitic infections
A targeted approach to treating toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease, shows early promise in test-tube and animal studies, where it prevented the parasites from making selected proteins. When tested in newly infected mice, it reduced the number of viable parasites by more than 90 percent.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Nature Methods
New method may allow personalized clinical trial for cancer therapies
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators have developed a new tool to observe cell behavior, which has revealed surprising clues about how cancer cells respond to therapy. The new tool, reported Aug. 12 in Nature Methods, may offer ways to improve personalized cancer therapy by predicting tumor response and testing combinations of targeted therapies in an individual patient's tumor.

NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Journal of Clinical Investigation
New oncogene identified for breast cancer
A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, led by Dr. Mark W. Jackson, have developed a novel method to identify genes that, when overexpressed, make normal cells behave like cancer cells. Using this method, the Jackson laboratory has identified a new oncogene, which is a gene that contributes to the development of cancer, named FAM83B.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012
UD partner in NIH research project to produce artificial salivary glands
University of Delaware professor Xinqiao Jia is part of a research team breaking new ground in the creation of artificial salivary glands. Funded through a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the research team hopes the work will lead to new solutions for xerostomia, or dry mouth, an inevitable consequence of radiation treatment for head and neck cancers.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Cancer Cell
Gene discovery could improve treatment for acute myeloid leukemia
Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have made a discovery involving mice and humans that could mean that people with acute myeloid leukemia, a usually fatal cancer, are a step closer to new treatment options. Their study results were published online today in Cancer Cell.

National Institutes of Health, Leukemia Research Foundation, New York State Stem Cell Science, Gabrielle's Angel Foundation for Cancer Research

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Journal of Biological Chemistry
Researchers identify key culprit causing muscle atrophy
Researchers at the University of Iowa have identified a key protein that causes muscles to atrophy. The protein, Gadd45a, is responsible for 40 percent of the gene activity associated with muscle deterioration. The finding opens the door to therapies to block Gadd45a and thus to deter muscle atrophy. Results appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

National Institutes of Health, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, American Diabetes Association, and others

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Nucleic Acids Research
Scientists use light to 'tag and track' genetic processes
In a new study, UT Dallas researchers outline how they used fluorescent molecules to "tag" DNA and monitor a process called DNA looping, a natural biological mechanism involved in rearranging genetic material in some types of cells. The UT Dallas "tag and track" method not only sheds light on how DNA loops form, but also might be adapted to screen drugs for effectiveness against certain viruses that shuffle genetic material, such as HIV.

National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Cancer Cell
Existing drugs offer new treatment options for high-risk childhood leukemia subtype
Scientists have identified new genetic alterations underlying a high-risk subtype of the most common childhood cancer that could be effectively targeted with existing leukemia therapies.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Specialized Center of Research, American-Lebanese-Syrian Associated Charities, and others

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Diabetes drugs taken by over 15 million Americans raises risk of bladder cancer
A popular class of diabetes drugs increases patients' risk of bladder cancer, according to a new study published this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that patients taking thiazolidinedione drugs -- which account for up to 20 percent of the drugs prescribed to diabetics in the US -- are two to three times more likely to develop bladder cancer than those who took a sulfonylurea drug, another common class of diabetes medications.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Cancer Cell
New key element discovered in pathogenesis of Burkitt lymphoma
Burkitt lymphoma is a malignant, fast-growing tumor that originates from a subtype of white blood cells of the immune system and often affects internal organs and the central nervous system. Now researchers of the Max Delbr�ck Center have identified a key element that transforms the immune cells into malignant lymphoma cells. They developed a mouse model that closely resembles Burkitt lymphoma in humans that may help to test new treatment strategies.

National Institutes of Health, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, European Research Council, Deutsche Fors

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Chemical widely used in antibacterial hand soaps may impair muscle function
Triclosan, an antibacterial chemical widely used in hand soaps and other personal-care products, hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Colorado. Researchers call for regulatory agencies to reconsider its use.

National Institutes of Health, Muscular Dystrophy Association, J.B. Johnson Foundation

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Pediatrics
Study links persistent and loud snoring in young children with problem behaviors
Persistent and loud snoring in young children is associated with problem behaviors, according to a new study published online in Pediatrics.

NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Cancer Cell
Protein that helps tumor blood vessels mature could make cancer drugs more effective
Since anti-cancer drugs are carried to tumors by the bloodstream, abnormal blood vessel development can hamper delivery. In a paper published Aug. 14 in Cancer Cell, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute found a molecule that promotes tumor vessel maturation. This discovery could be used to help tumor-killing therapies more effectively reach their targets.

NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 13-Aug-2012

Journal of Clinical Investigation
New class of proteins allows breast cancer cells to evade tyrosine kinase inhibitors
Aberrant regulation of cell growth pathways is required for normal cells to become cancerous, and in many types of cancer, cell growth is driven by a group of enzymes known as receptor tyrosine kinases. In the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, two groups identify a pair of related oncogenes, FAM83A and B, which allow breast cancer cells to survive TKI treatment.

National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy, and others

Public Release: 12-Aug-2012

Journal of Biological Chemistry
Enzymes implicated in disease processes attack one another instead of harming body proteins
Researchers for the first time have shown that members of a family of enzymes known as cathepsins -- which are implicated in many disease processes -- may attack one another instead of the bodily proteins they normally degrade.

National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 12-Aug-2012

Nature Neuroscience
Smelling a skunk after a cold
Once our nostrils clear after a cold, we take for granted that our sniffers will dependably rebound. That dependability is no accident. It turns out the brain is working behind the scenes to make sure the sense is just as sharp after the nose recovers. A new study shows that after the human nose has been blocked for a week, brain activity rapidly changes in the regions connected to the olfactory system.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 12-Aug-2012

Nature
Mutations disrupt cellular recycling and cause a childhood genetic disease
Genetics researchers have identified a key gene that, when mutated, causes the rare multisystem disorder Cornelia deLange syndrome. By revealing how mutations in the HDAC8 gene disrupt the biology of proteins that control both gene expression and cell division, the research sheds light on this disease, which causes intellectual disability, limb deformations and other disabilities resulting from impairments in early development.

National Institutes of Health, USA Cornelia deLange Syndrome Foundation, and others

Public Release: 12-Aug-2012

Nature Medicine
Yale team discovers how stress and depression can shrink the brain
Major depression or chronic stress can cause the loss of brain volume, a condition that contributes to both emotional and cognitive impairment. Now a team of researchers led by Yale scientists has discovered one reason why this occurs -- a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 10-Aug-2012

Cell Host & Microbe
Team creates new view of body's infection response
A new 3-D view of the body's response to infection � and the ability to identify proteins involved in the response � could point to novel biomarkers and therapeutic agents for infectious diseases. Vanderbilt University scientists in multiple disciplines combined magnetic resonance imaging and imaging mass spectrometry to visualize the inflammatory response to bacterial infection in mice. The techniques, described in Cell Host & Microbe, offer opportunities for discovering proteins not previously implicated in the inflammatory response.

National Institutes of Health, Pfizer

Public Release: 10-Aug-2012

Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
Spending more on trauma care doesn't translate to higher survival rates
A large-scale review of national patient records reveals that although survival rates are the same, the cost of treating trauma patients in the western United States is 33 percent higher than the bill for treating similarly injured patients in the Northeast. Overall, treatment costs were lower in the Northeast than anywhere in the United States.

NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, American College of Surgeons

Public Release: 10-Aug-2012

Molecular Cell
New regulatory mechanism discovered in cell system for eliminating unneeded proteins
A faulty gene linked to a rare blood vessel disorder has led investigators to discover a mechanism involved in determining the fate of possibly thousands of proteins working inside cells.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Cancer Institute, NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, ALSAC

Public Release: 10-Aug-2012

PLOS ONE
Research shows gene defect's role in autism-like behavior
Scientists affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute have discovered how a defective gene causes brain changes that lead to the atypical social behavior characteristic of autism. The research offers a potential target for drugs to treat the condition.

Autism Speaks Foundation, MIND Institute, Elsa U. Pardee Foundation, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Public Release: 9-Aug-2012

ACS Nano
'Theranostic' imaging offers means of killing prostate cancer cells
Experimenting with human prostate cancer cells and mice, cancer imaging experts at Johns Hopkins say they have developed a method for finding and killing malignant cells while sparing healthy ones.

NIH/National Cancer Institute