http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Chromosomes are capped by long, repetitive DNA sequences called telomeres. These caps prevent genomic damage by insulating against the steady shortening of DNA ends that naturally accompanies replication. Once mature, cells generally stop producing the telomere-building enzyme telomerase and stop dividing when these caps have shortened to a critical length. However, many cancer cells get around this restriction by restoring telomerase production, allowing uncontrolled growth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-fanning-flames-tumor-growth-enzyme.html Cancer Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:20:55 EST news281175648 (Medical Xpress)—One of the hallmarks of cancer is unchecked cellular growth. Fortunately, our cells contain a number of tumor suppressor proteins, including the cell cycle regulator p21, to keep cell growth in check. The protection conferred by p21, however, can be overridden by an overactive histone-modifying enzyme called PRMT6. This protein represses p21 expression, thereby promoting tumor growth and preventing senescence in breast cancer cells, A*STAR scientists have found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-protein-represses-critical-checkpoint-cellular.html Cancer Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:00:08 EST news279965511 Ever since discovering a decade ago that a gene altered in lung cancer regulated an enzyme used in therapies against diabetes, Reuben Shaw has wondered if drugs originally designed to treat metabolic diseases could also work against cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-diabetes-drug-lung-cancer-patients.html Cancer Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:06:14 EST news278676360 (Medical Xpress)—According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 3 of every 100 babies in the U.S. are born with a birth defect. Among boys, one of the most common defects is the displacement of the urethral opening in the penis, a condition called hypospadias. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-mouse-mutant-path-birth-defect.html Medical research Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:42:23 EST news277551737 The p53 tumor suppressor protein manages DNA repair mechanisms in response to genetic damage and kills off precancerous cells before they multiply. The loss of p53 due to mutation greatly increases risk of tumorigenesis. Even worse, however, are the various 'missense' mutations that change the amino acid sequence of p53: they warp its function to promote rather than prevent cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-cancer-biology-bad-company.html Cancer Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:36:01 EST news277547752 An international project lead by the Molecular and Cell Biology Institute of Porto University with the participation of researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) has, for the first time ever, deciphered the mechanism by which a substance called anophelin binds to an enzyme (thrombin) involved in the process of blood coagulation. This discovery was published in the last issue of the PNAS journal and opens the door to, on the one hand, designing a new generation of anticoagulant drugs with a totally different functioning to current ones and, on the other hand, fighting against the spreading of malaria by designing inhibitors for this substance. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-anticoagulant-based-malaria-vectors.html Medical research Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:18:41 EST news274447112 Cancer biologists have known for decades that even the most potent cancer-causing genes do not act alone. Yet, identifying which combinations of genetic changes can cause a tumor to form and disease to progress remains a challenge. "The hope is that by understanding these [combinations], it will be possible to design therapeutic strategies tailored to the genetic changes in different cancers," says Stephen Cohen of the A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) and the National University of Singapore. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-fruit-genes-reveals-molecules-cooperate.html Genetics Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:10:41 EST news273917424 Most people have a fear of something but for 1 in 10 people, fear can turn into a phobia. The most common phobias being a fear of spiders, snakes, heights, the dark, being in crowds or tight spaces, animals and people. Then there are the more unusual fears: Coulrophobia (fear of clowns), Nomophobia (fear of being without a mobile phone), Socerophobia (fear of the in-laws) and, probably the most ironic, Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - a fear of long words. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-phobias-involves-creation-memories.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:06:49 EST news270112002 Cold viruses generally get a bad rap—which they've certainly earned—but new findings by a team of scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggest that these viruses might also be a valuable ally in the fight against cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-cold-viruses-cancer-therapies.html Cancer Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:27:26 EST news269627232 The process researchers use to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)—a special type of stem cell that can be made in the lab from any type of adult cell—is time consuming and inefficient. To speed things up, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) turned to kinase inhibitors. These chemical compounds block the activity of kinases, enzymes responsible for many aspects of cellular communication, survival, and growth. As they outline in a paper published September 25 in Nature Communications, the team found several kinase inhibitors that, when added to starter cells, help generate many more iPSCs than the standard method. This new capability will likely speed up research in many fields, better enabling scientists around the world to study human disease and develop new treatments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-easier-stem-cells.html Medical research Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:14:37 EST news267790454 Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and is associated with exposure to hepatitis B virus (HBV). Patients carrying the virus have a 100-fold greater risk of developing HCC, but exactly why was unclear until now. Wing Kin Sung at the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore and the National University of Singapore, John Luk at the A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and the National University of Singapore and co-workers have now identified genetic mechanisms by which a virus contributes to this common form of cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-molecular-mechanisms-virus-contributes-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:50:05 EST news265447292 Scientists from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) have discovered a new signalling pathway that controls both obesity and atherosclerosis. The team demonstrated, for the first time, that mice deficient in the Wip1 gene were resistant to weight gain and atherosclerosis via regulation of the Ataxia telangiectasia mutated gene (ATM) and its downstream signalling molecule mTor. These groundbreaking findings were published in the journal Cell Metabolism on 3rd July and may provide significant new avenues for therapeutic interventions for obesity and atherosclerosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-scientists-mechanism-obesity-atherosclerosis-potentially.html Medical research Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:32:05 EST news260533919 Cellular mechanisms that enable healthy growth can spiral out of control and give rise to cancer. For this reason, signal transduction pathways that underlie cell growth are tightly regulated, with multiple checkpoints and extensive cross-talk in between signal cascades that drive cell division and differentiation. Stephen Cohen and co-workers at the A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology have identified a new link between growth controlling microRNAs and this cellular circuitry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-micrornas-link-pathways-growth-animal.html Medical research Wed, 20 Jun 2012 09:40:08 EST news259402889 Scientists have moved a step closer to correcting some unhealthy gene mutations with diet, according to a new research report appearing in the April 2012 issue of the journal Genetics. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, determined variations and responses to vitamin treatment in the human cystathionine beta synthase gene, which when defective, causes the disease homocystinuria, an inherited metabolic disorder sometimes treatable with vitamin B6. After the analysis, scientists correlated specific gene mutations with severity of the disease, ranging from perfectly healthy and functional to severe and untreatable. Although the current study focused on homocystinuria, testing the effects of naturally occurring gene variations using surrogate organism genetics can be applied to other inherited disorders, such as neural tube defect, cleft palate, and blindness. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-diet-gene-mutations.html Genetics Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:17:14 EST news253185422 The well-being of living cells requires specialized squads of proteins that maintain order. Degraders chew up worn-out proteins, recyclers wrap up damaged organelles, and-most importantly-DNA repair crews restitch anything that resembles a broken chromosome. If repair is impossible, the crew foreman calls in executioners to annihilate a cell. As unsavory as this last bunch sounds, failure to summon them is one aspect of what makes a cancer cell a cancer cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-sos-telomeres-incriminate-cells.html Medical research Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:00:34 EST news250765210 A uniquely collaborative study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies uncovered a novel mechanism that turns up glucose production in the liver when blood sugar levels drop, pointing towards a new class of drugs for the treatment of metabolic disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-fasting-pathway-class-diabetes-drugs.html Medical research Thu, 12 May 2011 12:25:32 EST news224421912