Serotonin metabolites in mollusks suggest pathways for human therapies
... caused by serotonin is turned off by enzymes that inactivate it by converting it into various metabolites, such as the ones discovered by Stuart. Disruptions of serotonin signaling pathways are thought to occur in disorders such as depression, anxiety, sudden infant death syndrome, attention deficit hyperacti...U-M scientists find common virus in human prostate tissue
...gen," Imperiale says. "They induce cell growth and inactivate the p53 gene, preventing it from killing abnormal cells. So, it's a logical possibility that a similar mechanism occurs in at least some cases of prostate cancer, but much additional research will be needed before we can know for sure." ...Rutgers cancer prevention expert calls for FDA action to reduce colon cancer and osteoporosis
...ly part of the American way of life calcium helps inactivate the resulting fatty acids in the colon that produce irritation, cell damage and other effects that can lead to cancer, Newmark says. Vitamin D aids in the absorption of dietary calcium by the body. For decades, researchers have recognized ...Yale professor receives Johnson & Johnson Focused Giving award
...ke a normal substrate for RNase P, to identify and inactivate messages for the protein subunits. The presence of the EGS in cells subsequently works rapidly and specifically and has been used in the past to target essential virus genes and decrease infection. Understanding how to affect the expression of multip...Tamoxifen stimulates breast cancer growth following alteration of estrogen receptor
...st often treated with anti-estrogen compounds that inactivate the estrogen receptor. The most common of these is the drug tamoxifen. However, only about half of ER+ breast cancers successfully respond to treatment with tamoxifen, while the other half are resistant. When tamoxifen is used in advanced disease, re...UW-Madison scientists find a key to cell division
...ng how the process works." The next step was to inactivate each protein in a developing embryo. If a defect occurred, it would mean that the inactivated protein is essential for normal development. "We used nematodes, which are small roundworms that are cheaper and quicker to use than mammalian cells, to as...Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
...ation is a more recently developed method shown to inactivate protozoa in water. The main concern associated with UV radiation is elevated cost due to extended operation periods. In the study, coliphage MS-2, considered to be a practical surrogate for pathogenic viruses, was exposed to silver individually and ...Discovery could improve anemia treatment in patients
...hool. Roy notes that it may not be desirable to inactivate hepcidin completely. The hormone's antimicrobial properties would be lost and allowing too much iron to circulate also can promote infection. "It's going to be a balance," Roy says. "If we manipulate hepcidin activity, we have to be very careful no...Carnegie Mellon U. develops microgel to recover enzymes for manufacturing, research assays
...h the enzymes to the matrix also can inadvertently inactivate the enzymes, rendering them useless. What's more, large chemicals cannot enter a dense matrix to react with embedded enzymes. The microgel developed by Armitage and Patterson bypasses these limitations. The enzyme is tightly connected to the microg...Protease-inhibitor cocktail protects, increases anti-microbial action of promising new peptide
...tease inhibitor cocktail containing compounds that inactivate the enzymes that normally would degrade the small pieces of protein enabled the potential treatments for oral infections to more than double their anti-microbial action, results showed. Guo-xian Wei, D.D.S., postdoctoral associate in the laboratory ...Sophisticated silencing strategies
...ts are now starting to apply related strategies to inactivate specific genes for research and therapeutic purposes (see related feature article by Richard Robinson at http://www.plosbiology.org/plosonline/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020028 ). Yet much remains to be learned about the d...Insights gained from molecular modeling may lead to better insecticides
...le for metabolizing insecticides and find a way to inactivate its catalytic site, you kill the P450 and prevent it from detoxifying insecticides." Accomplishing that, however, wont be easy because there is at least one other P450 in corn earworms that also handles insecticides, she said. "To truly hit the earw...Bacteriophage genomics approach to antimicrobial drug discovery published in Nature Biotechnology
...ia have developed unique proteins that bind to and inactivate (or redirect) critical cellular targets within their prey," said Jing Liu, Ph.D., corresponding author of the publication. "This binding shuts off key metabolic processes in the bacteria, diverting those organisms from their own growth and reproducti...New gene necessary for plant growth and development discovered
...do with the fact that the molecules used can often inactivate related proteins with the same function. A problem...etics a small molecule will most likely be able to inactivate all members of a closely related family of proteins provided that they operate by a similar mechanis...HIV protein attacks body's innate protection system that could prevent virus' replication
...called APOBEC3G that would, in the absence of Vif, inactivate HIV. Vif binds to APOBEC3G and induces its "extremely" rapid degradation, eliminating APOBEC3G from cells and keeping it from invading HIV particles where it could damage the virus' genetic material. APOBEC3G is a nucleic acid-editing enzyme that exi...Chemical change may help predict seriousness and course of some cancer
...l groups to DNA. Cells normally use methylation to inactivate unneeded genes during embryonic development and throughout life. Abnormal methylation, however, occurs in many types of cancers. The investigators developed microarray technology to measure methylation levels along two regions of a gene known as RAS...Enzyme discovery sheds light on causes of rare disease, cancer
... genetic mutations in an important protein complex inactivate PHF9. This disrupts critical intracellular repair mechanisms and leads to many serious complications associated with FA including the inability to make red blood cells. "FA is a disease that appears to be the result of breakdowns in DNA repair mechan...Emory scientists track down immune sentinel cells with gene gun
..., you have to figure out how to grow a virus, then inactivate it so that it doesn't actually cause an infection. This new methodology could take advantage of the immunizing capabilities of abundant, long-lived dendritic cells."...New study provides first linkage of fetal alcohol exposure and enlarged heart
...maternal glucocorticoids by placental enzymes that inactivate cortisol and Cort. The expression and activity of the enzyme 11-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-2 (11-HSD-2), however, are developmentally regulated and also subject to external influence. Maternal alcohol ingestion is also associated with elevated gluc......prung's disease a gene called Ret. Mutations that inactivate the function of Ret are a major cause of Hirschsprung's disease. "Ret was expressed in neural crest stem cells at rates 100 times higher than in fetal cells generally," Morrison says. "Three other genes Sox10, Grfa-1 and endothelin receptor type B a...