Cancer Research

Single-cell organisms were already in existence 500 million years ago, with several thousand genes providing different cellular functions. Further developments seemed dependent on producing even more genes. If so, a highly developed organism like a human should have resulted in several million genes yet the publication of the human genome showed us that a human only has around 25,000 genes – not many more than a fruit fly or a worm with approximately 15,000 to 20,000 genes. It would appear that, over the last 500 million years, other ways to produce highly complex organisms have evolved.…

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, December 14 /PRNewswire/ -- - New Lancet Oncology publication provides important insights on the use of MammaPrint(R) Breast Cancer Prognosis Test in clinical practice New research demonstrates that the MammaPrint(R) breast cancer prognosis test was successfully implemented in the diagnostic process of breast cancer patients in community hospitals in The Netherlands. MammaPrint(R) assigned up to one-third of the patients to different risk categories as compared to currently used risk assessment tools. In the majority of these situations, it may lead to a reduction…

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, gained new insights into autophagy -- a cellular degradation process associated with a form of programmed cell death -- by studying the salivary gland cells of the fruit fly. Since its initial discovery in the 1960s, programmed cell death has been a primary focus of studies for investigators across a wide array of scientific disciplines. An essential mechanism in development and homeostasis, programmed cell death allows for the clean intracellular destruction of unnecessary or damaged cells. While apoptosis is the most understood…

Sugar-based markers on human sperm cells which may prevent them from being attacked by the female immune system could provide a vital clue to how some cancers spread in the human body, according to new research published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Researchers analyzed these markers, believed to tell the female immune system that the sperm are not dangerous pathogens, and therefore should not be attacked by the woman’s white blood cells during the reproductive process. The study, led by Imperial College London and the University of Missouri, suggests that these sugar markers,…

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, December 13 /PRNewswire/ -- - Results to be presented at San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Agendia BV, world leader in the rapidly evolving field of molecular diagnostics, announced today that an independent international consortium has demonstrated the prognostic power of its MammaPrint(R) breast cancer prognosis test in patients who have 1-3 positive lymph nodes. The data show that MammaPrint(R) can accurately identify a low risk group of lymph node-positive breast cancer patients with an excellent survival, implications that will help doctors to decide the…

I recently submitted a Letter of Intent for the NSF Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation competition. Kevin Owens is a co-PI and will assist with the laboratory automation component. ChemSpider will contribute the database support. The pre-proposal is due in early January 2008 and we'll be writing it openly here. Comments are welcome. We would ultimately like to enable the chemistry community to directly control the actions of a robot to help us understand some chemistry problems. As we make our way towards this goal, it would be very useful to start with suggestions for protocols to be…

GENEVA, Switzerland, December 13 /PRNewswire/ -- - Merck Serono Will Fund a US$2 Million Initiative to Drive Treatments for Parkinson's Disease-Related Cognitive Dysfunction and Mood Disorders Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, is supporting the US$2-million commitment of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) for research toward therapies to alleviate Parkinson's disease (PD)-related cognitive dysfunction and mood disorders. The funding is to be awarded under a new initiative, Cognitive Deficits and Mood Disorders in Parkinson's Disease. "…

GENEVA, Switzerland, December 13 /PRNewswire/ -- - Trial Will Evaluate Safety and Efficacy of Atacicept in Lupus Nephritis and is Intended to Support Marketing Authorizations Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, and its partner ZymoGenetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZGEN) announced today the initiation of a Phase II/III clinical trial of atacicept in lupus nephritis, a severe form of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The kidneys are affected in at least 30% of the estimated 1.5 million people suffering from SLE worldwide. This study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of atacicept for the…

Researcher at Stanford have isolated the multipotent progenitor, the great-grandparent of all the cells of the blood, and say this is the first offspring of the much-studied blood-forming stem cell that resides in the bone marrow and gives rise to all cells of the blood. It's also the cell that's thought to give rise to acute myelogenous leukemia when mutated. Isolating this cell, which is well known in mice but had yet to be isolated in human blood, fills in an important gap in the human blood cell family tree. Irving Weissman, MD, director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and…

Circadian rhythms are the body’s intrinsic time-tracking system, which anticipates environmental changes and adapts to the appropriate time of day. They regulate a host of body functions, from sleep patterns and hormonal control to metabolism and behavior. About 10 percent to 15 percent of all human genes are regulated by circadian rhythms. Disruption of these rhythms can profoundly influence human health and has been linked to insomnia, depression, heart disease, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. University of California, Irvine researchers say they have identified the chemical switch…