AIDS Treatments Seek To Eradicate Virus, Restore Immunity
...provalearlier this year, kills HIV by crippling an enzyme crucial to its survival,a mechanism different from other anti-viral compounds. The three drugs are expected to reduce the "viral load" or theamount of HIV in patients' bodies, by 99 percent, said Dr. John Bartlett,who heads Duke's Infectious Diseas...NIAID Stops AIDS Study Prematurely Because Drug 'Cocktail' Boosts Survival
.... Drugs such as ZDV and 3TC work by inhibiting an enzyme called reverse transcriptase. That enzyme enables the virus' genetic material, or RNA, to convert human genetic material known as DNA into mor...Substance from Grapefruit Juice May Make Medications Safer
...pefruit juice works by decreasing the amount of an enzyme called CYP3A4 that is present in the small intestine. This finding is important because it narrows the search for the substance in grapefruit juice that is responsible for its effects on drug metabolism. Isolating this substance could enable manufa...Duke Obtains FDA Designation For Pompe Disease Therapy
... condition caused by an inherited deficiencyof the enzyme acid alpha glucosidase. Acid alpha glucosidase nor...tientssuffering from Pompe disease lack sufficient enzyme for that chemical conversion.As a result, glycogen accumulates and destroys skeletal, heart, and lun...NIH Honors Emory Researcher With Merit Award For Work On Renin-Angiotensin System
...ensin, a hormone circulating in the blood. The ACE enzyme converts theinactive form of angiotensin-'antiotensin I' to angiotensin II, which is apowerful vasopressor (constricter of blood vessels). Through its vasopressor action, angiotensin II raises blood pressureand, through a varie...Snipping Inflammation In The Bud; New Agents May Provide Relief
...o bunch up on thecell's surface. This activates an enzyme within the cell that, like a chemicalscissors, snips the L-selectin proteins from the cell surface. When L-selectin is lost from the cell surface, the cell's docking mechanism isno longer available, and the sheared L-selectin proteins are turned loos......experiences some chest painwith some EKG and blood enzyme changes. "Did that patient have another heart attack? Not all cardiologistswould agree," Mahaffey said. "So we must come up with ways we formulate ourdefinitions to ensure that everyone is following the same guidelines. We're nowlooking a...Fat: It's Not For Breakfast Anymore; Study Finds Fat Linked To Clotting
... levels can "leadto an explosive" formation of the enzyme thrombin. Thrombin is a catalyst inthe formation of fibrin, one of the essential components of a blood clot. Toomuch clotting can lead to blockages in the blood vessels, setting the stage fora heart attack or stroke. In the study, four diff...Area of Research Outlined For Promising New Cancer Drugs
... to plasminogen, a precurser of theclot-dissolving enzyme plasmin -- as well as a number of basic studies onplasminogen fragments -- that helped confirm angiostatin is a fragment of thisprotein. (Endostatin is derived from a different, unrelated protein, collagenXVIII.) Angiostatin and endostatin w...Drug's Effect On Chromosomes May Explain Second Cancers
...ors. These drugs work by blocking the action of an enzyme found incells known as topoisomerase II (topo II)....notherDNA strand to pass through it. Normally, the enzyme then instantly re-joinsthe cut ends to repair the break. Etoposide prevents the enzyme from complet......lls in vitro. They also inhibit the inductionof an enzyme called Cox-2 (cyclooxygenase), which serves as a marker of vascularcell inflammation. The mechanism of action of these PPARa receptors in the vascular wall was alsoelucidated. The receptors exert at least part of their anti-inflammatory effectby inte......ide, which lowers the levels ofDHT by blocking the enzyme that converts testosterone into DHT, might preventthe formation of prostate cancer. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is in the midst of a large national clinicaltrial to determine if finasteride can reduce the incidence of prostate cancer.The seve......tutes ofHealth. "We found that the activity of an enzyme involved in the production ofthe chemical dopamine is lower than normal in a specific brain area." Ernst's study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is publishedin the August 1 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. ADHD is e...Drug Reduces Heart Attack, Death Rates In Patients With Unstable Angina
...ent treatment, heparin, inhibitsthrombin, but this enzyme is involved in another part of the clot-formingprocess. Eptifibatide's different mechanism of action means patients alreadytaking aspirin or heparin may be able to add Eptifibade to their regimen of drugtherapies, doctors said. The s...Tiny Pellets Could Deliver Alzheimer's Drugs
...er's, the researcher looked for the activity of an enzyme called CHAT (for cholinacetyltransferase) that is ...nerve impulses. Cells close to the NGF pellet had enzyme production 100 percent greater than rat brain cells without the implanted pellet, Saltzman reports. ...Cyclosporin Appears Effective In Treating Heart Disease
...l, Dr. Molkentin andhis colleagues showed that the enzyme calcineurin can initiate cardiachypertrophy in mice. In the new study, the scientists administered acalcineurin inhibitor, cyclosporin, to mice that were genetically predisposed todevelop HCM and to rats in which HCM was induced. This prevented the......me tobacco plants have been modified to produce an enzyme that can be used to treat Gaucher Diseases, a rare and often fatal condition. Other plants have been modified to produce human Protein C, which is used to prevent blood clots. Both tobacco-based products are still in development and have not undergon...Mechanism By Which Estradiol Protects Women From Heart Disease Suggested By Emory Team
...associated with increased levels of the prooxidant enzyme myeloperoxidase (MPO) -- and that MPO protein oxidizes LDL and clears theoxidized LDL via the liver. Estradiol may further act as a prooxidant in the oxidation of LDL by MPO."Based on its ability to inhibit copper-mediated oxidation of LDL, it has ...Physicians Study Whether "Super-Aspirin" Prevents Alzheimer's
... The drugs target cycloxygenase-2 or cox-2, an enzyme in thebody first discovered and cloned by a Univer...onYoung and Kerry O'Banion. Scientists believe the enzyme is at theroot of the pain and inflammation we feel from a variety ofailments, including arthritis. E......pture RT in an active form, Harrison knew that the enzyme needed to be constrained, so he approached Harvard chemists, Gregory Verdine and his postdoctoral fellow Hulfgang Huang, and asked them to tether RT to DNA. The chemists modified both DNA and the RT protein so that the two would be attached by a perm...