Curing Death by Curing Aging - February 2010 Archives

Tumor mechanism identified (2/28/2010)

Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, UK, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Cornell University in New York, Weil Medical College in New York and the Center for Neural Tumor Research in Los Angeles, have for the first time identified a key mechanism that makes certain cells become tumorous in the brain. The resulting tumors occur most often spontaneously but can also occur in numbers as part of the inherited disease neurofibromatosis type 2. ...> Full Article

Melanoma transcriptome reveals novel genomic alterations not seen before (2/27/2010)

Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, afflicts more than 50,000 people in the United States annually and the incidence rate continues to rise. In a study published online in Genome Research, scientists have delved deeper than ever before into the RNA world of the melanoma tumor and identified genomic alterations that could play a role in the disease. ...> Full Article

New DNA technique leads to a breakthrough in child cancer research (2/26/2010)

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and Karolinska Institutet have used novel technology to reveal the different genetic patterns of neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer. This discovery may lead to significant advances in the treatment of this malignant disease, which mainly affects small children. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover second protective role for tumor-suppressor (2/25/2010)

ATM, a protein that reacts to DNA damage by ordering repairs or the suicide of the defective cell, plays a similar, previously unknown role in response to oxidative damage outside of the nucleus, researchers report this week in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...> Full Article

Researchers find biomarkers in saliva for detection of early-stage pancreatic cancer (2/24/2010)

The genetic biomarkers of pancreatic cancer are present in human saliva, researchers at the UCLA School of Dentistry, the David Geffen School of Medicine and the School of Public Health reported today in Gastroenterology. The finding could lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment of this most lethal of human cancers. Early results suggest salivary diagnostics may prove superior to blood tests for the purpose of early detection. ...> Full Article

Researchers find genetic link to leukemias with an unknown origin (2/23/2010)

Although leukemia is one of the best studied cancers, the cause of some types is still poorly understood. Now, a newly found mutation in acute myeloid leukemia patients could account for half of the remaining cases of adult acute leukemia with an unknown origin. ...> Full Article

Personalizing cancer: Creating biomarkers from tumor DNA (2/22/2010)

Researchers have developed a new technique for tracking cancer by identifying personalized biomarkers from tumor DNA, reports a new study in the Feb. 24, 2010, issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society. The findings show that next-generation sequencing technology is poised become an important tool in the new era of personalized management of cancer patients. ...> Full Article

Sorting the drivers from the passengers in the cancer genome (2/21/2010)

Researchers have developed a method to find mutations in a class of cancer genes that, when removed, promote cancer. The research goes some way to addressing the challenge of discerning the causative, "driver" mutations from the "passenger" mutations. The team were able to construct signatures associated with deletions in cancer causing tumor suppressor genes. The research also finds that at least one in nine genes can be removed without killing cancer cells in test tubes. ...> Full Article

Small liquid sensor may detect cancer instantly, could lead to home detection kit (2/20/2010)

What if it were possible to go to the store and buy a kit to quickly and accurately diagnose cancer, similar to a pregnancy test? A University of Missouri researcher is developing a tiny sensor, known as an acoustic resonant sensor, that is smaller than a human hair and could test bodily fluids for a variety of diseases, including breast and prostate cancers. ...> Full Article

Don't worry, be happy! Positive emotions protect against heart disease (2/19/2010)

People who are usually happy, enthusiastic and content are less likely to develop heart disease than those who tend not to be happy, according to a major new study published on Thursday 18 February. The authors believe that the study, published in the Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal, is the first to show such an independent relationship between positive emotions and coronary heart disease. ...> Full Article

Researchers describe how the cholera bacteria becomes infectious (2/18/2010)

In a new study, Dartmouth researchers describe the structure of a protein called ToxT that controls the virulent nature of Vibrio cholerae, the bacteria that causes cholera. Buried within ToxT, the researchers were surprised to find a fatty acid that appears to inhibit ToxT, which prevents the bacteria from causing cholera. ...> Full Article

Researchers discover new way to kill pediatric brain tumors (2/17/2010)

Researchers have identified a previously unrecognized target, a protein called STAT3, at which they can aim new drugs for the treatment of cancer in neurofibromatosis-1 (NF1), a genetic condition that causes increased risk of benign and malignant brain tumors. ...> Full Article

Compound shows promise against intractable heart failure (2/16/2010)

A chemical compound found normally in the blood shows promise in treating and preventing an intractable form of heart failure in a mouse model of the disease. ...> Full Article

Can chocolate lower your risk of stroke? (2/15/2010)

Eating chocolate may lower your risk of having a stroke, according to an analysis of available research that will be released today and presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10-17, 2010. Another study found that eating chocolate may lower the risk of death after suffering a stroke. ...> Full Article

Less is more in cancer imaging (2/14/2010)

In a paper published last month in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, a team led by fifth-year Rice graduate student Guoping Chang described an amplitude gating technique that gives physicians a clearer picture of how tumors are responding to treatment. ...> Full Article

Research team targets self-cannibalizing cancer cells (2/13/2010)

A team of scientists from Princeton University and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey has embarked on a major new project to unravel the secret lives of cancer cells that go dormant and self-cannibalize to survive periods of stress. The work may help produce new cancer therapies to stem changes that render cancer cells dangerous and resistant to treatment. ...> Full Article

New screening system for hepatitis C (2/12/2010)

A newly designed system of identifying molecules for treating hepatitis C should enable scientists to discover novel and effective therapies for the dangerous and difficult-to-cure disease of the liver, says Zhilei Chen, a Texas A&M University assistant professor of chemical engineering who helped develop the screening system. The system, Chen explains, enables researchers to study the effects of molecules that obstruct all aspects of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) life cycle. ...> Full Article

Soft drink consumption may increase risk of pancreatic cancer (2/11/2010)

Increased sugar intake may stimulate tumor growth through effects of insulin. Pancreatic cancer rates increased nearly twofold over the past several decades. Drinking two or more soft drinks a week led to an 87 percent increased risk. ...> Full Article

New study finds possible source of beta cell destruction that leads to type 1 diabetes (2/10/2010)

Doctors at Eastern Virginia Medical School's Strelitz Diabetes Center have been have been studying the role of the enzyme 12-Lipoxygenase (12-LO) in the development of type 1 diabetes. They hope that targeting this enzyme will hold the key to reversing the disease. ...> Full Article

Early artificial pancreas trials show benefits for kids, teenagers with diabetes overnight (2/9/2010)

In a landmark study in children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes, JDRF-funded researchers at the University of Cambridge showed that using a first-generation artificial pancreas system overnight can lower the risk of low blood sugar emergencies while sleeping, and at the same time improve diabetes control. ...> Full Article

Scientists find ideal target for malaria therapy (2/8/2010)

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a protein made by the malaria parasite that is essential to its ability to take over human red blood cells. ...> Full Article

Tumor suppressor p53 prevents cancer progression in cells with missegregated chromosomes (2/7/2010)

Cells missegregate a chromosome approximately once every hundred divisions. But don't be too alarmed: new research in the Journal of Cell Biology shows that the tumor suppressor p53 limits the growth of cells with incorrect numbers of chromosomes and prevents their progression toward cancer. The study appears online Feb. 1. ...> Full Article

Study offers evidence that spongiform brain diseases are caused by aberrant protein (2/6/2010)

Scientists have determined how a normal protein can be converted into a prion, an infectious agent that causes fatal brain diseases in humans and mammals. The finding, in mice, is expected to advance the understanding of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs, a family of neurodegenerative diseases that include Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, kuru and fatal familial insomnia in humans, scrapie in sheep, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, also known as "mad cow disease." ...> Full Article

Breakthrough heart scanner will allow earlier diagnosis (2/5/2010)

An innovative cardiac scanner will dramatically improve the process of diagnosing heart conditions. The portable magnetometer is being developed at the University of Leeds, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council playing a key role. ...> Full Article

Low production of serotonin in the brainstem a likely cause for SIDS (2/4/2010)

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have linked sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) with low production of serotonin in the brainstem, based on a comparison of brainstem samples from infants dying of SIDS compared to brainstems of infants dying from other, known causes. ...> Full Article

Loss of gene function makes prostate cancer cells more aggressive (2/3/2010)

Prostate cancer cells are more likely to spread to other parts of the body if a specific gene quits functioning normally, according to new data from researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. ...> Full Article

Cancer researchers perform complete genomic sequencing of brain cancer cell line (2/3/2010)

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have performed the first complete genomic sequencing of a brain cancer cell line, a discovery that may lead to personalized treatments based on the unique biological signature of an individual's cancer and a finding that may unveil new molecular targets for which more effective and less toxic drugs can be developed. ...> Full Article

Vitamin D supplements could fight Crohn's disease (2/2/2010)

A new study has found that Vitamin D, readily available in supplements or cod liver oil, can counter the effects of Crohn's disease. John White, an endocrinologist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, led a team of scientists from McGill University and the Universite de Montreal who present their findings about the inflammatory bowel disease in the latest Journal of Biological Chemistry. ...> Full Article

Secrets of immunologic memory (2/1/2010)

Investigators at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have discovered a new way the cell surface protein, CD44, helps specific T helper cells develop immunologic memory. ...> Full Article