Brave new world in life sciences
...rotection" that bolsters the development of robust defenses without restricting the free flow of scientific information. Writing in the September/October Bulletin, the authors argue that fixing a fractured public health system to be responsive to "both natural and deliberate biological threats" is perhaps "...Science researchers genetically transform immune cells into tumor fighters
...ooking for ways to boost the body's natural immune defenses against cancer, focusing specifically on T cells, a special type of immune cell that can recognize and attack "foreign" cells such as those found in tumors. In their earlier experiments, the researchers removed tumor-fighting T cells from melanoma pa...Cell's fight against cancer revealed
...ece of work" that shows how a healthy cell's tumor defenses break down. "Understanding exactly how this works is going to be a critical step toward our understanding of tumor genesis," he said. This, in turn, may lead to new techniques for designing tumor-fighting drugs, Pipas added. Chen's team was abl...Scientists identify switch for brain's natural anti-oxidant defense
... more PGC-1a, which in turn spurs the anti-oxidant defenses into action. "With this mechanism, the body can speed up mitochondrial formation and at the same time suppress the creation of reactive oxygen species, which are known to be terribly damaging to the cell," explains Spiegelman, who is also a professo...Boston University biologists discover amphibian eggs use defenses against water molds
...cape a clutch already infected with mold. "These defenses appear to reduce the overall impact of water mold, so that massive egg mortality is normally associated with a several stressors. Furthermore, interactions with other species may further reduce mortality rates of infected clutches," explained Gomez-M...White blood cells of cancer-resistant mice overwhelm natural defenses of cancer cells
...t white blood cells in these mice overwhelm normal defenses of cancer cells. In a report in Cancer Immunity, a journal of the Academy of Cancer Immunology, posted on line today, Zheng Cui, M.D., Ph.D., and Mark C. Willingham, M.D., of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues said that several ...Researchers writing story of the 'alcoholic lung'
..., lowers a protective antioxidant, disrupts immune defenses and can lead to a condition known as 'alcoholic lung,' according to research to be presented at the conference, "Physiological Genomics and Proteomics of Lung Disease." The findings give insight into how excessive drinking can harm the molecular life...Newly discovered proteins associated with cystic fibrosis
...thought to be part of the first line of the body's defenses against infectious agents, Bingle said. The human genome project localized the PLUNC (palate, lung and nasal epithelium clone) gene to chromosome 20. A genetic locus in this region directs the production of a family of at least 10 proteins. Some of ...Antioxidants: New kid on the block for pain relief?
...ical production somehow exceeds the body's natural defenses that problems occur. Researchers have linked this excessive production to diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's. A handful of studies published in the last 10 years suggest that free radicals may also contribute to chronic pain. Left unchecked, free...Does natural selection drive the evolution of cancer?
...tor hunting prey, and the tumor cells that develop defenses against the predation are the ones that survive and reproduce. An example of parasitism in the tumor environment can be seen in angiogenesis, in which a subset of tumor cells send chemical signals to stimulate the host to generate new blood vessel...Newly discovered immune defense may be impaired in CF airways
...id, perhaps using a nebulizer, it might boost host defenses in CF patients and help prevent bacterial lung infections," Banfi said.......thogens and cancer cells mutate to evade the bodys defenses and resist treatment with drugs. The Stowers researchers used the benign budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as their model organism and deleted a key cell division gene called MYO1. Surely, eliminating this important gene would shut down cell...Genetic map offers new tool for malaria research
...hanges that enable it to escape the body's natural defenses and to overcome malaria drugs remain largely unknown. To gain a broad picture of genetic variability worldwide and genome-wide the scientists analyzed more than 50 different P. falciparum samples from diverse geographic locations. This includes ...Worms produce surprise insight into human fever
...asic pathways that set off the worms innate immune defenses have homologssimilar proteins in mammal cells, including ours. These conserved pathways are involved in many similar effector strategies against hostile bugs peristalsis, low gut pH, lytic enzymes, and antimicrobial peptides to prevent microbial col...Study gives clues about how deadly bacterium gains foothold
...e bacteria prevent neutrophils from mobilizing its defenses and learn more about how those defenses normally function. Additional insights could help with the eventual development of therapies or vacc...Molecular 'on/off switch' controls immune defenses against viruses
...witch, the hepatitis C virus turns on human immune defenses upon entering the body but also turns off those defenses by manipulating interaction of key cellular proteins, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers hav...Physicians face significant new liability risks with advent of personalized medicine era
..." Marchant said, "both because they lack the legal defenses available to other parties, and many doctors have ...rote. The article also outlines several potential defenses for at-risk parties, and recommends they and the legal community be ready for a new wave of lawsuits...Wheat can fatally starve insect predators
...ducing poisons and stronger walls. Those inducible defenses use a lot of a plant's energy that could be used toward growth and reproduction." The scientists currently are looking for regulatory regions in Hessian fly-susceptible wheat genes that might act as vehicles to carry lectin or a toxin into plants t...Buckyballs used as 'passkey' into cancer cells
...e peptides were found effective at penetrating the defenses of both liver cancer cells and neuroblastoma cells. "Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children, and it is responsible for about 15 percent of pediatric cancer deaths," said Jianhua Yang. "Our findings are significant bec...Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic join forces to develop cancer vaccine
...t somehow, these stealth proteins evade the body's defenses and allow the cells to grow into a tumor. In results from animal studies, pre-vaccination with these foreign proteins creates an immune response that prevents the tumor from forming. Unfortunately, each tumor's protein signature can be slightly dif...