Tighter Chemical Binding = Better Meds
...evelopment of improved anti-HIV drugs that counter mutant strainsthat are resistant to current drugs, such as AZT and the proteaseinhibitors. Jorgensen's calculations also have been applied to potentialdrugs that can regulate the natural synthesis of insulin for diabetics ina gene therapy approach involvin......s in a variety ofpainful conditions. Although the mutant and normal mice needed the same amountof morphine to relieve mild pain, the mutant mice, which lacked the tachykinins,needed less morphine to experience pain relief under more intense......enter, have beenable to show by generating a mouse mutant with CRHR1-deficiency that theanxiogenic effect of CRH is mediated by the CRHR1 receptor. Indeed, these CRHR1-deficient mice show reduced stress hormone response(cortisol response) under acute stress conditions, and were less anxious inbehavioral tes......or leukemia unless you understand what makes these mutant cellsbehave in the way they do," explained Grover Bagby, M.D., director of the OregonCancer Center. "Second, cancer and leukemia cells behave in an abnormal waybecause the structure of cellular proteins has been altered by mutations. Although this ne...Discovery: Experiments Confirm Novel Eye Pigment Controls Circadian Rhythm
...lclock, was reduced by more than 50 percent in the mutant mice, Sancar said. Complementary experiments at Northwestern that involved having theCarolina knockout mice running on treadmills and resting during simulated nightsand days showed mutants to have abnormal response to light and abnormally lon...Discussion about learning processes reopens
...not demonstrate abnormal learning behaviour in the mutant mice. Rather,the mice lacking LTP were, like normal mice, capable of accurately finding asubmerged, invisible platform in a pool of murky water ("water maze") and toswim there immediately when placed in the water. Further research is needed to unambi...NICHD funded researchers discover gene for Rett syndrome
...romosome, males with Rett syndromepossess only the mutant version of MECP2. Presumably, because they do not havea "backup" copy of the gene, males with Rett syndrome die before birth. Dr. Zoghbi explained that MECP2 functions on the molecular level bybinding to methylated cytosine molecules in the...A new ion channel involved in cell proliferation: evidence for its oncogenic potential
...n channel with this property carries the name of a mutant of the fruit fly(Drosophila melanogaster) in which a defect in the channel protein causes theflies to rhythmically move under ether: Ether--go-go (EAG). The equivalent ratand human genes (rEAG and hEAG) are abundantly expressed in brain where they ac...Duke team seeks novel vaccine strategy for HIV
... variety of proteins known as cytokines,as well as mutant cholera toxin, to act as adjuvants for their nasal vaccines. "With peptide vaccines, an adjuvant is required to get potent,long-lived antibody and cellular responses to HIV," Staats said. Once candidate vaccines and adjuvants have bee...Teasing out the early steps of neurodegeneration
... Zoghbi, will concentrate on understanding how the mutant ataxin-1 protein interacts with genes in the nucleus. In particular, said Zoghbi, she and her colleagues would like to understand the function of PCCMT , the first gene to be downregulated, since it might be a key to later malfunctions in the cell. ...Drug therapy significantly extends lifespan of worms
...tion, the scientists restored a normal lifespan to mutant worms that had a mitochondrial defect causing increased oxygen radical production and rapid aging. The findings were reported in the September 1, 2000 issue of Science. The collaborative research was conducted by Simon Melov, Ph.D., of the Buck Ce...Untangling prostaglandin signaling
...pe mice and has little or no additional benefit in mutant animals, suggesting that most of the analgesic effect of these drugs can be explained by their inhibition of signaling through this single receptor type. Stock and colleagues also observe a drop in systolic blood pressure in male mutants, which the...Folic acid possibly a key factor in Alzheimers disease prevention
...e mice are transgenic, meaning they were bred with mutant genes that cause AD in people. They develop AD-like plaques in their brains that kill neurons. The NIA team counted neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region critical for learning and memory that is destroyed as plaques accumulate during Alzheimer...Buck Institute researcher identifies new drug targets for Alzheimers disease
...de whereas BACE preferentially cleaves the Swedish mutant form of APP. Since 99% of people with AD have normal APP, this novel beta-secretase may be more relevant as a molecular target to discover beta-secretase inhibitors to treat AD thanBACE, which is the target of most drugs currently being developed," c...Mastiffs could aid treatment of retinitis pigmentosa
...with the lengthy and difficult task of cloning the mutant canine RHO gene. University of Pennsylvania researchers Artur V. Cideciyan, Tomas S. Aleman, Michael J. Pianta and Samuel G. Jacobson found the critical similarities in retinal function between the mastiff disease and humans with RP that led to the...Researchers gain insight into function of memory enhancing drugs
.... By observing how the drugs interacted with both mutant and normal receptors, the researchers could gain more insight into how the drugs interact with the receptor, and into the process of desensitization. They found that experimental drugs, known as allosteric modulators, regulate desensitization by bin...Researchers say deadly twist key to sickle cell disease
Patients with sickle cell disease have mutant haemoglobin proteins that form deadly long, stiff...isease. Gene therapy could introduce a haemoglobin mutant that formed less-twisty individual strands, and this "good mutant" might turn fibres into less harmf...Smart virus eliminates brain cancer in animal experiments
...4-RGD therapy is designed to take advantage of the mutant Rb protein in cancer cells by introducing a virus with a non-functioning E1A protein, researchers say. Investigators created a new virus with a 24-base pair deletion in the adenovirus E1A gene so that the malfunctioning E1A protein cannot stop Rb fro...Single protein is key in response to bacterial, viral infections
...rking Trif protein. Lack of Trif explained why the mutant mice could not respond adequately to endotoxin (which mimics bacterial infection). However, Dr. Beutler notes, the team also made the surprising observation that mice missing Trif are also unable to respond to the double-stranded RNA produced by most......the mouse by genetically altering it to host three mutant human genes that foster lesion growth: beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin-1 and tau. APP is the source of the beta-amyloid protein that forms into brain plaques, while presenilin-1 is needed for this protein to form. Tau is the critical...