http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered the signaling pathway whereby a master regulator of cancer cell proteins – known as Src – leads to ovarian cancer progression when exposed to stress hormones. The researchers report in the current issue of Nature Communications that beta blocker drugs mitigate this effect and reduce cancer deaths by an average of 17 percent. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-preclinical-master-proto-oncogene-ovarian-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:00:04 EST news278676493 A research team led by the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology has discovered the mechanism that enables CD4 helper T cells to assume the more aggressive role of killer T cells in mounting an immune attack against viruses, cancerous tumors and other damaged or infected cells. The finding, made in collaboration with researchers from the RIKEN Institute in Japan, could enable the development of more potent drugs for AIDS, cancer and many other diseases based on using this mechanism to trigger larger armies of killer T cells against infected or damaged cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-team-molecular-enabling-immune-cells.html Immunology Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:00:15 EST news277900981 Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered the molecular switch that allows aggressive triple negative breast cancer cells to grow the amoeba-like protrusions they need to crawl away from a primary tumor and metastasize throughout the body. Their findings, published in Cancer Cell, suggest a novel approach for developing agents to treat cancer once it has spread. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-scientists-reveal-aggressive-breast-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:00:06 EST news277374472 Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered a molecular switch that enables advanced prostate cancers to spread without stimulation by male hormones, which normally are needed to spur the cancer's growth. They say the finding could lead to a new treatment for prostate cancers that are no longer controlled by hormone-blocking drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-culprit-castration-resistant-prostate-cancer.html Cancer Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:19:08 EST news274630741 Researchers at Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC) have taken the first preliminary steps toward developing a form of gene therapy for sickle cell disease. In an abstract presented on Dec. 10 at the 54th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, the research team—led by DF/CHCC's Raffaele Renella, MD, PhD, Stuart H. Orkin, MD, and David A. Williams, MD—announced that they had demonstrated in an animal model the feasibility of activating a form of hemoglobin unaffected by the sickle cell mutation. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-highlight-potential-gene-therapy-approach.html Medical research Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:00:03 EST news274447323 The ability of the eye of a fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) to respond to light depends on a delicate ballet that keeps the supply of light sensors called rhodopsin constant as photoreceptors turn on and off in response to light exposures, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital in an article that appears online in the journal PLOS Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-crag-fantastic-photoreceptors.html Neuroscience Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:06:39 EST news273863189 The cancer-causing form of the gene Myc alters the metabolism of mitochondria, the cell's powerhouse, making it dependent on the amino acid glutamine for survival. In fact, 40 percent of all "hard-to-treat" cancers have a mutation in the Myc gene. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-downstream-proteins-cancer-causing-pathway-cell.html Cancer Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:54:46 EST news272040879 (Medical Xpress)—A new type of molecular switch can boost common chemotherapy drugs to destroy bowel cancer cells, according to research presented today (Monday) at the NCRI Cancer Conference in Liverpool. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-molecular-volume-bowel-cancer-treatment.html Cancer Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:30:06 EST news271326585 Flipping a newly discovered molecular switch in white fat cells enabled mice to eat a high-calorie diet without becoming obese or developing the inflammation that causes insulin resistance, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-scientists-molecular-link-obesity-insulin.html Medical research Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:00:25 EST news267965225 The body has a built-in system known as autophagy, or 'self-eating,' that controls how cells live or die. Deregulation of autophagy is linked to the development of human diseases, including neural degeneration and cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-molecular-key-cellular.html Medical research Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:51:22 EST news263055062 (Medical Xpress) -- Scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Protein Phosphorylation Unit at the University of Dundee have discovered a new molecular switch that acts to protect the brain from developing Parkinson's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-molecular-on-off-parkinson-disease.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Wed, 23 May 2012 06:50:50 EST news256974522 Ben Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Rhim, MD, a Gastroenterology Fellow in the Stanger lab, discovered that pancreatic cancer cells in an animal model begin to spread before clinically obvious tumor tissue is detected. What's more, they showed that inflammation enhances cancer progression in part by facilitating a cellular transformation that leads to entry of cancer cells into the circulation. They report their findings this week in Cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-metastasis-pancreatic-cancer-action.html Cancer Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:49:52 EST news246199703 Scientists have discovered a missing link between the body's biological clock and sugar metabolism system, a finding that may help avoid the serious side effects of drugs used for treating asthma, allergies and arthritis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-discovery-safer-treatments-asthma-allergies.html Arthritis & Rheumatism Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:39:38 EST news243535124 Scientists have discovered an enzyme that acts as a 'fertility switch', in a study published in Nature Medicine today. High levels of the protein are associated with infertility, while low levels make a woman more likely to have a miscarriage, the research has shown. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-faulty-molecular-infertility-miscarriage.html Medical research Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:00:09 EST news237979820 Three international teams of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California San Diego, University of Michigan and Stanford University, have published a trio of papers describing in unprecedented detail the structure and workings of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a large family of human proteins that are the target of one-third to one-half of modern drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-vital-protein-complex-protein-coupled-receptors.html Medical research Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:00:01 EST news236431745 Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered how a hormone turns on a series of molecular switches inside the pancreas that increases production of insulin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-discovery-insulin-pancreas-diabetes-drugs.html Medical research Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:54:53 EST news236274880 Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a way to image the spread of a particularly dangerous form of prostate cancer earlier than conventional imaging in use today, which may allow oncologists to find and treat these metastases more quickly and give patients a better chance at survival. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-prostate-cancer-earlier-conventional-imaging.html Cancer Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:18:55 EST news235905515 In a joint study, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and Harvard University's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have established a new class of anti-diabetic compound that targets a unique molecular switch. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-class-anti-diabetic-compound.html Medical research Sun, 04 Sep 2011 13:00:07 EST news234359780 Like snakes, tumour cells shed their skin. Cancer is not a static disease but during its development the disease accumulates changes to evade natural defences adapting to new environmental circumstances, protecting against chemotherapy and radiotherapy and invading neighbouring organs, eventually causing metastasis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-cancer-cells.html Cancer Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:19:11 EST news234173936 G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are popular drug targets, accounting for about one-third of approved drugs and many hundreds of drugs currently in development. They act as molecular switches that transduce extracellular signals by activating heterotrimeric G proteins (G proteins) located at the inside of the cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-common-drugs-molecular-pas-de.html Medical research Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:40:02 EST news230894507 Using the only microscope of its kind in Australia, medical scientists have been able for the first time to see the inner workings of T-cells, the front-line troops that alert our immune system to go on the defensive against germs and other invaders in our bloodstream. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-super-microscope-body-immunity.html Medical research Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:00:25 EST news226497002 Panic disorder sufferers will tell you the attacks are some of the most sudden, frightening and uncomfortable experiences ever. But what makes some people susceptible to these attacks and others not? Studies of twins point to hereditary factors playing a key role in 40% of cases. How genes are involved in panic disorder risk is unclear, however. A European group of researchers has implicated one type of molecular switch, short or micro ribonucleic acid molecules (miRNAs) in panic disorder. The research, funded in part by the EU, is presented in the journal Biological Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-molecular-affects-panic-disorder.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:49:34 EST news222076140