Cancer Research

A new study in Nature Biotechnology claims their numerical models and lab experiments have confirmed they can improve a class of drugs based on antibodies by predicting structural changes that will improve its effectiveness. They've already used the model to create a new version of cetuximab, a drug commonly used to treat colorectal cancer, that binds to its target with 10 times greater affinity than the original molecule. “New and better methods for improving antibody development represent critical technologies for medicine and biotechnology,” says MIT Professor Dane Wittrup. Antibodies,…

Researchers have found that lack of sleep can more than double the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. They also found that too much sleep can also more than double the risk of death. One way or another, you are going to die. Strangely, your sleep habits may speed up that process. The study detailed how sleep patterns affected the mortality of 10,308 civil servants in the “Whitehall II study”. Amongst other things the data they used provided information on the mortality rates and sleep patterns on the same group of civil servants at two points in their life (1985-8 and those still…

A win for embryonic stem cell research may be the kind of symbolic pyrrhic victory politicans engage in after bold action is no longer necessary. It may not be necessary if research from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City holds up. They say adult stem cells found in a male patient's testicles might someday be used to create a wide range of tissue types to help him fight disease -- getting around the need for more controversial embryonic stem cells. Using spermatogonial progenitor stem cells (SPCs) obtained from the mouse's testes, the researchers were able to redirect the cells'…

Imagine turning a bad micro-organism, like E. coli, into a micro-factory that produces pharmaceutical compounds to fight aging or obesity. University at Buffalo researchers say they can do it and have filed for a patent. First Wave Technologies, Inc. recently received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation to focus on the biosynthesis of a popular group of flavonoids called isoflavonoids. “Ultimately, we want to be able to take a designed E. coli off of the shelf and drop into it the enzymes that constitute a particular biosynthetic…

For the first time scientists have been able to film, in real time, the nanoscale interaction of an enzyme and a DNA strand from an attacking virus. Researchers from the University of Cambridge have used a revolutionary Scanning Atomic Force Microscope in Japan to produce amazing footage of a protective enzyme unravelling the DNA of a virus trying to infect a bacterial host. The research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), will improve our understanding of how enzymes interact with DNA at a nanoscale but also has marked implications for scientists…

Cancer-causing genes can work in more powerful and sneaky ways than have been realized. Scientists have shown that a gene named JAK that is closely related to a common cancer-causing gene in people tips the scales toward cancer in an unexpected manner. JAK disrupts the activity of an organism’s DNA on a broad scale, thwarting a critical molecular event very early on in an embryo’s development. A team from the University of Rochester Medical Center made the finding through research involving fruit flies, which share much of the same complex cellular signaling as humans. Sorting out the major…

People who experience chronically high levels of loneliness show gene-expression patterns that differ markedly from those of people who don’t feel lonely, according to a new molecular analysis. The findings suggest that feelings of social isolation are linked to alterations in immune system activity, which result in increased inflammatory signalling within the body. This is the first study to show an alteration in genome-wide transcriptional activity linked to a social epidemiological risk factor. It provides a molecular framework for understanding why social factors are linked to an…

Emissions targets for London stand little chance of being achieved unless the Greater London Authority (GLA) takes radical steps, one of which could be the removal of all cars from both inner and outer London, according to a report today at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to launch the Lancet Series on Energy and Health. Climate scientists argue that rapid reductions will be needed if England to avoid dangerous climate change[2], even going beyond the GLA commitment to reducing London’s carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2025[1]. A team of experts from LSHTM and the…

A sweeping review of research studies of aspartame says there is no evidence that the non-nutritive sweetener causes cancer, neurological damage or other health problems in humans Looking at more than 500 reports, including toxicological, clinical and epidemiological studies dating from 1970’s preclinical work to the latest studies on the high-intensity sweetener, along with use levels and regulations data, an international expert panel from 10 universities and medical schools evaluated the safety of aspartame for people of all ages and with a variety of health conditions. Their study is…

It’s already known that a person’s social environment can affect their health, with those who are socially isolated—that is, lonely suffering from higher mortality than people who are not. Now, in the first study of its kind, published in the current issue of the journal Genome Biology, UCLA researchers have identified a distinct pattern of gene expression in immune cells from people who experience chronically high levels of loneliness. The findings suggest that feelings of social isolation are linked to alterations in the activity of genes that drive inflammation, the first response of the…