All Articles Tagged As: dna

New information about DNA repair mechanism could lead to better cancer drugs (7/18/2009)

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shed new light on a process that fixes breaks in the genetic material of the body's cells. Their findings could lead to ways of enhancing chemotherapy drugs that destroy cancer cells by damaging their DNA. ...> Full Article

DNA-damaged cells communicate with neighbors to let them know they're in trouble (7/15/2009)

When cells experiencing DNA damage fail to repair themselves, they send a signal to their neighbors letting them know they're in trouble. The discovery, which shows that a process dubbed the DDR (DNA Damage Response) also controls communication from cell to cell, has implications for both cancer and aging. ...> Full Article

Molecular espionage shows a single HIV enzyme's many tasks (5/8/2008)

Reverse transcriptase, target of major anti-HIV drugs, dynamically binds both DNA, RNA ...> Full Article

Undergraduates tailor Genome Browser to aid malaria research (10/31/2007)

Researchers have created a genome browser for studying the malaria parasite. A team of UCSC researchers used the new browser to discover previously unknown genes that could help in the search for antimalarial drugs. ...> Full Article

Researcher Receives Grant to Develop Technologies for Exploring Epigenetic Regulation of the Human Genome (10/19/2007)

Research to develop tools for understanding glitches in epigenetic control mechanisms that have been found in every type of cancer that researchers have examined to date. ...> Full Article

Surveying the Genetic Landscape of Breast and Colon Cancers (10/13/2007)

An extensive study of the DNA in cancerous cells has uncovered a large number of genes likely to contribute to the development and progression of breast and colorectal cancer. The study suggests that each breast and colon tumor is unique and may arise through mutations in many different combinations of genes. ...> Full Article

Genetic 'Roadblock' Hoped To Inspire Future Type 2 Diabetes Research (10/13/2007)

A team of researchers has found that a 'genetic roadblock' identified in a recent study could pave the way toward novel treatments for type 2 diabetes. ...> Full Article

Molecular biology brings new approach to age-old mystery of malaria (10/9/2007)

In what might be one of medicine's oldest puzzles, molecular biologist marvels at how little modern researchers know about how the pieces fit together. ...> Full Article

Study shows strong link between a mother's hip size and the risk of breast cancer in her daughters (10/9/2007)

An international study has shown a strong correlation between the size and shape of a woman's hips and her daughter's risk of breast cancer. ...> Full Article

Identifying 'Genetic Fingerprint' May Predict Drug Effectiveness (10/5/2007)

Scientists believe identifying a genetic "fingerprint" could help predict which specific therapies will be most effective for patients with gastric cancer. ...> Full Article

Altering the fingerprint of cancer (9/29/2007)

It has become clear over the past few decades that cancer is a genetic disease, with vast combinations of gene mutations, translocations, additions, and deletions contributing to the diverse cancers that afflict humans. Given this knowledge, a sea change is brewing in the search for new cancer treatments. ...> Full Article

Scientists reveal DNA-enzyme interaction with first ever real time footage (9/18/2007)

Scientists reveal DNA-enzyme interaction with first ever real time footage ...> Full Article

If You Think Cancer Genes Are Simple, You Don't Know JAK (9/18/2007)

Gene linked to leukemia, lymphoma more powerful, subtle than once thought ...> Full Article

New Class of RNA Molecules May Be Important in Human Cancer (9/13/2007)

Research here shows that an obscure form of RNA, part of the protein-making machinery in all cells, might play an important role in human cancer. ...> Full Article

Enzyme alerts cell's powerful army to repair DNA damage (9/7/2007)

Enzyme's important daily function has implications for understanding cancer and neurological diseases, say U-M researchers ...> Full Article

Small molecule spurs genes to action (8/22/2007)

Most of us think of disease as the failure of an organ or the breach of some critical fortress in the body's defense system. But for many ailments, including cancer and diabetes, disease begins with an even more fundamental error: the failure of genes to turn on and off when they should. ...> Full Article

Finding That One-in-a-billion That Could Lead To Disease (8/21/2007)

Errors in the genetic code can give rise to cancer and a host of other diseases, but finding these errors can be more difficult than looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Now, scientists at Johns Hopkins have uncovered how the tiny protein-machines in cells tasked to search for such potentially life-threatening genetic damage actually recognize DNA errors. ...> Full Article

Protein 'Chatter' Linked To Cancer Activation (8/15/2007)

Scientists have found the existence of cross-talk between human chromosome ends and the protein complexes central to the stability of the entire human genome, a "chat" that contributes to cancer development. ...> Full Article

Scientist aims to stop cancer cells reading their own DNA (8/12/2007)

A promising new line in anti-cancer therapy by blocking the molecular motors involved in copying genetic information during cell division is being pursued by young Dutch researcher Dr. Nynke Dekker in one of this year's EURYI award winning projects sponsored by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the European Heads of Research Councils (EuroHORCS). Dekker and her team are trying to stop tumor development by interfering with the molecular motors that copy DNA during cell division. This will cut off the genetic information flow that tumours need to grow, and could complement existing cancer therapies, while in the longer term bringing the promise of improved outcomes with greatly reduced side effects. ...> Full Article

Where Broken DNA is Repaired (8/10/2007)

Ionizing radiation, toxic chemicals, and other agents continually damage the body's DNA, threatening life and health: unrepaired DNA can lead to mutations, which in turn can lead to diseases like cancer. Intricate DNA repair mechanisms in the cells' nuclei are constantly working to fix what's broken, but whether the repair work happens "on the road" - right where the damage occurs - or "in the shop" - at specific regions of the nucleus - is an unanswered question. ...> Full Article

Unknotting DNA Clue to Cancer Syndrome (8/7/2007)

A new UC Davis study that explains the actions of a gene mutation that causes early onset cancer provides a fundamental insight into the mechanism of DNA-break repair. ...> Full Article

Influence Of A Cancer Inhibitor On A Single DNA Molecule Tracked (8/6/2007)

Researchers in Delft University of Technology's Kavli Institute of Nanoscience have cast new light on the workings of the important cancer inhibitor topotecan. Little had been known about the underlying molecular mechanism, but the Delft scientists can now view the effects of the medicine live at the level of a single DNA molecule. The research has been published online by the journal Nature on 24 June 2007. The lead author of the article, Daniel Koster, received his PhD at TU Delft on Monday 25 June 2007, partly on the results described in the article. ...> Full Article

DNA Repair Proteins Monitored At Double-Strand Break (5/14/2007)

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital had a molecule's eye view of the human cell's DNA repair kit as it assembled on a double-strand break to link together the broken ends. Double-strand breaks are ruptures that cut completely across the twisted, ladder-like structure of DNA, breaking it into two pieces. ...> Full Article