Potential cancer-causing genes removed from engineered stem cells Whitehead work involved reprogrammed skin cells from Parkinson's patient
Whitehead Institute researchers have developed a novel method of removing potential cancer-causing genes during the reprogramming of skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients into an embryonic-stem-cell-like state. Scientists were then able to use the resulting induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to derive dopamine-producing neurons, the cell type that degenerates in Parkinson's disease patients.
RNA interference can suppress ovarian tumor growth
Study offers promise for new cancer treatments
Small RNA molecules can effectively keep ovarian tumors from growing and spreading in mice, according to a team of researchers from MIT, the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.
Too much of a good thing
Excessive DNA repair can lead to retinal degeneration
Anne Trafton, News Office
A naturally occurring DNA repair system that normally protects cells from damage can cause retinal degeneration and blindness when overstimulated, according to a new study by MIT researchers.
Image courtesy / Samson Laboratory
MIT researchers found that mice with normal DNA repair systems had
more retinal degeneration upon exposure to environmental toxic agents
than mice lacking a certain DNA repair system. At right, the cross section
of the retina from a mouse lacking the repair system is normal. At left, mice
with too much DNA repair have greatly reduced numbers of cells in the OPL
(outer plexiform layer) and ONL (outer nuclear layer).
Scientists Identify Genetic Marker to Predict Lung Cancer Risk
New Haven, Conn. — Yale Cancer Center researchers have identified a genetic biomarker that may help to determine why some people are at an increased risk of developing lung cancer.
Scientists Identify Gene Variant Involved in Isolated Cleft Lip
About 20 percent of isolated cleft lip, one of the world’s most common birth defects, may be due to a one-letter difference in the DNA sequence of a gene involved in facial development, researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health report.
PROSTATE CANCER GENES BEHAVE LIKE THOSE IN EMBRYO
--Testosterone Activates Similar Genes in Prostate Development and Prostate Cancer
Gene activity in prostate cancer is reminiscent of that in the developing fetal prostate, providing further evidence that all cancers are not equal, Johns Hopkins researchers report. The finding could help scientists investigate how to manipulate the genetic program to fight a disease whose biology remains poorly understood despite more than half a century of investigation.
Using adult stem cells from bone marrow as “Trojan horses” to deliver a nurturing growth factor to atrophied muscles, Wisconsin scientists have successfully slowed the progression of ALS in rats.
Team Led by Scripps Research Scientists Finds Gene Critical to Normal Hearing
Mutations Cause Deafness, But Condition May Be Treatable
LA JOLLA , CA, September 15, 2008—Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a new gene they say is essential for both hearing and balance in mice and humans. They found that a mutation in this gene causes a form of deafness that has nothing to do with structural proteins in the inner ear—commonly altered in hereditary deafness. On the contrary, the mutation affects an enzyme with a known catalytic function, which gives hints as to how the problem might be preventable with novel drug therapy.
New Cytogenetics Tests Help Clarify Pediatric Diagnosis of Complex Developmental Abnormalities
Breakthroughs in cytogenetic technologies, which focus on subtle alterations in genes and chromosomes, are enabling a new level of detail and accuracy in the diagnosis of complex and unexplained developmental problems in children.
Safety study indicates gene therapy for blindness improves vision
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — All three people who received gene therapy at the University of Florida to treat a rare, incurable form of blindness have regained some of their vision, according to a paper published online today in Human Gene Therapy.
First Gene Associated
with Dry Macular Degeneration Found Findings indicate possible adverse consequences to new RNA therapies
By Debra Kain
In a study that underscores the important role that individual genetic profiles will play in the development of new therapies for disease, a multi-institutional research team – led by Kang Zhang, MD, PhD professor of ophthalmology and human genetics at Shiley Eye Center at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine – has made two important discoveries related to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in adults over the age of 60.
Immune response to human embryonic stem cells in mice suggests human therapy may face challenge, Stanford study shows
By KRISTA CONGER
STANFORD, Calif. — Human embryonic stem cells trigger an immune response in mice, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine report. The finding suggests that the effectiveness of human therapies derived from the cells could be limited unless ways are found to dampen the rejection response.
Researchers Discover How
Tumor Suppressor Inhibits Cell Growth
By Debra Kain
Genes that inhibit the spontaneous development of cancer are called tumor suppressor genes. One of the major tumor suppressors is p53, a protein that acts in the cell nucleus to control the expression of other genes whose products can inhibit cell proliferation (increase in cell number) and cell growth (increase in cell size). Abnormal cell proliferation and growth are characteristics of cancer. Scientists previously knew which p53 target genes inhibit cell proliferation, but those required for inhibition of cell growth were unknown.
Penn Researchers Find a New Role for a 'Foxy Old Gene' Protein protects liver against accumulation of excess bile; implications for treating liver diseases
PHILADELPHIA – Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a protein called FOXA2 controls genes that maintain the proper level of bile in the liver. FOXA2 may become the focus for new therapies to treat diseases that involve the regulation of bile salts. The study was published online this week in Nature Medicine.
Researchers Identify Gene
Responsible for Rare Childhood Disease
By Debra Kain
The chromosomal abnormality that causes a rare, but often fatal, disorder that affects infants has been identified by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, who happened to treat two young children with the disease in San Diego – two of perhaps a dozen children in the entire country diagnosed with the disorder.
Spinal cord stem cells could be basis of new treatment
Deborah Halber, News Office Correspondent
A researcher at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has pinpointed stem cells within the spinal cord that, if persuaded to differentiate into more healing cells and fewer scarring cells following an injury, may lead to a new, non-surgical treatment for debilitating spinal-cord injuries.
Image / Konstantinos Meletis
Coronal sections of injured adult spinal cord, anterior to posterior.
The labelling shows recombined ependymal cells and their progeny (white)
migrating out to the injury area in the dorsal funiculus, as a reponse
to the injury (injury is in the image on the right hand corner). The mouse
is a FoxJ1-CreER x R26R-LacZ reporter.
“SMOTHERED” GENES COMBINE WITH MUTATIONS TO YIELD POOR OUTCOME IN CANCER PATIENTS
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers have identified a set of genes in breast and colon cancers with a deadly combination of traditional mutations and “smothered” gene activity that may result in poor outcomes for patients.
Scripps Research Study of Disease-Causing Mutations Uncovers Surprising Pattern
Findings May Lead to Wealth of New Targets for Drug Treatments
LA JOLLA, CA, June 27, 2008—A new Scripps Research Institute survey of genetic mutations definitively tied to diseases has revealed clustering in a specific region of an important class of enzymes. The pattern was so clear it suggests that other mutations contributing to a wide range of diseases are likely to be tied to the region. New searches focused there may therefore lead to a wealth of new targets for drug treatments.
Old muscle gets new pep in UC Berkeley stem cell study
By Sarah Yang, Media Relations
BERKELEY – Old muscle got a shot of youthful vigor in a stem cell experiment by bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, setting the path for research on new treatments for age-related degenerative conditions such as muscle atrophy or Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
Stem Cells Correct Defect in Child’s Fatal Skin Disease Blood and marrow transplant corrects collagen VII deficiency
Columbia Skin Researcher Develops, Confirms Basic Science Behind Clinical First
NEW YORK (June 3, 2008) – Researchers and clinicians have paved the way toward a cure for a young boy’s genetic and fatal skin disease, recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), by using a cord blood and bone marrow transplant. Nate Liao, 25 months old from Clarksburg, N.J., underwent the experimental therapy in October 2007, as the result of a research and clinical collaboration between researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and physicians at the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview.
