UT Southwestern Researchers Find Way To Control Gene Activity, Opening Way For Cancer Drugs
... then blocked telomeraseactivity. Telomerase is an enzyme that prevents depletion of the ends --telomeres --...off in normal cells,except embryonic cells, so the enzyme is not manufactured. It is switched on intumor cells allowing them to divide uncontrollably and be i......earchers at Columbia University have discovered an enzyme that isrequired to prolong the life span of micros.... The new catalasejust identified, the first such enzyme found in animals, resides in the cellfluid, not within a specific compartment. In this more general...Dietary Supplements Could Put A Stop To A Royal Curse
... genetic mutation that affects theefficiency of an enzyme called protoporphyrinogen oxidase found in themitochondria of cells. When this enzyme fails to work properly, excessprotoporphyrinogen spills out into the surrounding cell. Scientists ar...Details of promising cancer therapy shows for the first time
...transferase (FPT) inhibitors,which incapacitate an enzyme recently found to activate many types of cancer. The drug detailed in this study is currently in clinical trials. The findings will appear in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, which ispublished by the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's la...Where the wild ones are: origins of staple crop found
...a introduces bacteria and fungi, which activate an enzyme that breaks down the cyanide. Villagers accomplish the same thing by depositing freshly dug cassava tubers into a community pond; microorganisms in the water degrade the cyanide. It is speculated that starvation indirectly led to these culinary rit...Genetic testing of pregnant women with liver illness could save infant lives
...rders to sudden death. Each babyhas a defect in an enzyme called long chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase(LCHAD). When faulty, this enzyme can't complete its mission of breaking downfatty acids. Sugars provide fuel for four or five hours f...Drug stops blinding blood vessel growth in mice
...in. A fewlinks downstream is protein kinase C, an enzyme that appears to be important inkeeping the chain reaction going. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) isstructurally similar to VEGF and may stoke the fires of the chain reaction fromanother direction. PKC 412 may mount a three-pronged a...Jefferson scientists detail mechanisms of programmed cell death
...e of cellular events leading to activation of this enzyme in apoptosis. "Biotechnology companies are trying to develop drugs that inhibitcaspases to fight neurodegenerative diseases and other diseases in whichapoptosis is involved in the pathologic process, and are developing clinicaltrials," says ...Roundworm studies yield new insight into organ formation
...ndworm C.elegans , researchers have pinpointed an enzyme that controls the shape of adeveloping organ. This...ue of the journal Nature , that ametal-containing enzyme called a metalloprotease guides the formation of gonadsin the roundworm C. elegans . The enzyme is ...'Altered state' may be responsible for creating important brain chemicals
...cludethat the two serve a biological function. The enzyme creates a modified proteinthat is used by the brai...stems. The system works this way: When the enzyme making RNA, called RNApolymerase, moves along the DNA double helix, it leaves behind underwound DNA....UT Southwestern researcher finds genetic cause for Gulf War syndrome
...causes them to produce highamounts of a particular enzyme did not get sick after exposure to certainchemical...m, while others who produce low amounts of thesame enzyme did get sick. The culprit gene is the one that controls production of type Q paraoxonase, orPON-Q, a...For DNA, it's all about fitting in
...try. "The bases must fit together for a polymerase enzyme to copy them.Shape brings fidelity to the process." The finding is a surprise to manybiochemists who have long focused on hydrogen bonds when trying to unravel theoperation of polymerase enzymes, which copy DNA. The Nature paper is the lates...Weizmann researchers find evidence that links molecular mechanism to Huntington's Disease
Weizmann researchers have found evidence that an enzyme called transglutaminase(TGase) may be the "smoking gun" behind the deadly disease Huntington's disease(HD). Their study is reported in the June 22 issue of the Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences. TGase occurs naturally throughout the body...New enzyme tied to tangles in Alzheimer's disease
...archers from Boston and New Yorkhave identified an enzyme that appears to restore the function of a key playerin Alzheimer's disease. The enzyme, known as Pin1, is depleted in brains ofpeople with Alzheimer's disease, according to a paper in the June 24 issue ofthe weekly journal Nature. "This is the first ...Gene treatment can boost heart function in rabbits, Duke researchers say
...n.This desensitization is caused by ßARK, an enzyme inside the cell that inhealthy hearts helps restore normal heart contractions after norepinephrinestimulation. In failing hearts, however, ßARK levels rise and the number of ßARsis greatly reduced. In 1994, Lefkowitz, Koch and the...Protein studies reveal sophisticated control of nerve communication
...ted in one such signaling pathwaythat activates an enzyme called cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), and hownerve cells organize specialized pools of PKA so that these pools will be readyfor instant use. As it turns out, PKA is one of the two enzymes that yotiao holds near theNMDA receptors. Whenever the ...Hepatitis C's interferon resistance mechanism discovered
...e infected cell toproduce protein kinase (PKR), an enzyme that adds a chemical entity known as aphosphate group (a process called phosphorylation) to a variety of proteins,including itself. Among PKR's targets is a protein called eukaryotic initiation factor 2(eIF2 a ). Adding a phosphate group to eIF2...New drug with unusual promise enters ALS pipeline
...unts comparedwith untreated ones. Levels of a key enzyme typically made by healthy cellsunderscored the result. "PEDF may significantly protect spinal motor nervesagainst injury," says Kuncl. "What we have here is a potential therapy." The results with PEDF and a compound called neurturin, rep...Head trauma damages DNA repair mechanism
...ry in rats, McIntosh and colleaguesshowed that the enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), which repairsspecific cuts in the DNA helix, is activated by brain cells as early as 30minutes after an injury. But, at seven days post-injury, destruction of PARPbecomes pronounced, which suggests that DNA repair ...... Cellulase is an enzyme used to breakdown plant material and is used in a ...ble for the enzyme production to occur after thetops are separated from the pota...