DNA vaccine against multiple sclerosis appears safe, potentially beneficial
... In patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), the immune system attacks the myelin sheaths that protect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, according to background information in the article. The nerve cells axon, which transmits messages to other neurons, is eventually destroye...Chromatin remodeling complex connected to DNA damage control
... This connection between a signaling pathway crucial to DNA damage control and a pathway known as chromatin remodeling "opens an entirely new category of targets for potentially attacking cancer," says senior author Xuetong "Snow" Shen, Ph.D., an assistant professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Carcinogenesis at the...Vaxfectin-formulated measles DNA vaccine elicits long-term protection in nonhuman primates
SEATTLEMay 31, 2007Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq:VICL) today announced that a measles DNA vaccine formulated with the company's Vaxfectin adjuvant elicited protective levels of neutralizing antibodies in juvenile (1 2 year old) nonhuman primates confirmed by complete protection following challenge more than one year after vaccination, and sterilizing immunity as evidenced by no clinical signs of d...Drug used to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child damages DNA
... NRTIs work by inhibiting the viral reverse transcriptase and by in...Disposable sensor uses DNA to detect hazardous uranium ions
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a simple, disposable sensor for detecting hazardous uranium ions, with sensitivity that rivals the performance of much more sophisticated laboratory instruments....... The sensor provides a fast, on-site test for assessing uranium contamination in the environment, and the effectiveness of remediation st...NIAID DNA vaccine for H5N1 avian influenza enters human trial
... Unlike conventional flu vaccines, which are developed by growing the influenza virus i...Mount Sinai and EXACT Sciences announce study results on study stool DNA testing for colon cancer
New York, NY and Marlborough, MA - (December 13, 2006) -- Mount Sinai School of Medicine and EXACT Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ: EXAS) announced today the publication of results from a prospective, multi-center study of stool DNA testing. The study found that the test demonstrated an 88% sensitivity for colorectal cancer, and with equal detection across all stages of cancer, regardless of the c...DNA computing targets West Nile Virus, other deadly diseases
... The new technology could be used in the future, perhaps in 5 to 10 years, to develop instruments that can simultaneously diagnose and treat cancer, diabetes or other diseases, according to a team of scientists at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and the University of New Mexico,...Researchers identify gene as protector of DNA, enemy of tumors
... ... Defects in BRIT1 seem to be a key pathological alteration in cancer initiation and progression, the authors note, and further under...DNA repair in mammal embryos is a matter of timing
Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered that the cells of the developing nervous system of the mammalian embryo have an exquisite sense of timing when it comes to fixing broken chromosomes: the cells use one type of repair mechanism during the first half of development and another during the second half. ...... The team also showed that blocking a repair pathway cau...Hebrew University researchers succeed in observing for 1st time how DNA damage is identified
For the first time anywhere, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have succeeded in observing and describing how damaged DNA is naturally identified. ...... The research sheds new light on understanding this molecular mechanism and is likely to aid in research on diseases involving DNA damage, including cancer. ...... An article regarding the work of the Hebrew University researchers...No-hands origami: New DNA self-assembly makes more complex structures, more easily
ATLANTA A computer scientist at CalTech has developed a way to "program" strands of DNA to fold themselves into a variety of complex shapes an accomplishment considered the most intricate yet in the field of self-assembly and via a method he calls so simple that "a high schooler could do it." The potential implications of the work are enormous, not only in the area of electronic miniaturizatio...Ebola DNA vaccine produces immune responses in all fully vaccinated volunteers in Phase 1 trial
Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq:VICL) announced today that an Ebola vaccine candidate administered using Vical's proprietary DNA delivery technology was safe and well tolerated, and produced both antibody and T-cell Ebola-specific responses in all healthy volunteers who received the full 3 doses of vaccine....... The Phase 1, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study, the first human trial...When otherwise normal DNA adopts an unusual shape called Z-DNA, it can lead to the kind of genetic instability associated with cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, according to a study by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.... ...The study, issued in advance of the Feb. 21 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates for the firs...Immune system response to viral DNA is unique
The human body has a unique immune system response to foreign DNA, suggesting that DNA viruses and RNA viruses are detected by different mechanisms, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this week in Immunity.... ... The researchers also found that DNA recognition might be used to detect invasive bacteria in addition to viruses, according to Daniel Stetson, a post doctoral fellow in the Sect...Mayo Clinic collaboration discovers protein amplifies DNA injury signals
A Mayo Clinic-led research collaboration has discovered that the protein MDC1 amplifies weak DNA injury signals so genetic repair can begin. Once amplified, even low-level damage signals become strong enough to activate the cell's natural repair processes while the injury is most tractable to repair. How this "distress call" was communicated wasn't clear until this finding, which appears in the J...Identified: DNA that controls the malaria parasite's disguise mechanism
Professor Alan Cowman, Dr Brendan Crabb and their research teams at WEHI have identified how the most lethal malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is able to disguise itself from the human immune system. ...... This discovery builds on the work published in the 9 April 2005 issue of the journal Cell, in which Professor Cowman and Dr Crabb reported that to avoid detection and destruction, the p...Computer simulation shows buckyballs deform DNA
Soccer-ball-shaped "buckyballs" are the most famous players on the nanoscale field, presenting tantalizing prospects of revolutionizing medicine and the computer industry. Since their discovery in 1985, engineers and scientists have been exploring the properties of these molecules for a wide range of applications and innovations....... But could these microscopic spheres represent a potential env...HIV inserts into human genome using a DNA-associated protein
A human DNA-associated protein called LEDGF is the first such molecule found to control the location of HIV integration in human cells, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. This study, published in this week's early online edition of Nature Medicine, describes the first clear target for modulating where viruses insert into the human genom...In a crisis, creating DNA vaccine could help save lives, slow spread of 'bird flu'
Researchers scrambling to combat a virulent form of bird flu that could mutate into a form easily spread among humans should consider developing vaccines based on DNA, according to British biochemical engineers. DNA vaccines, they say, can be produced more rapidly than conventional vaccines and could possibly save thousands of lives if a global influenza outbreak occurs....... A DNA-based vaccine...Mechanism controlling DNA damage response has potential novel medical applications
Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered a previously unrecognized mechanism that controls a key protein linked to the cell's response to stress - a finding that holds promise for new ways to enhance cancer therapies or protect cells from dying after exposure to damaging chemicals or radiation. ...The gene for this protein, called p53, is the most commonly mutated...Mayo Clinic research collaboration discovers why some DNA repair fails
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered the inner workings of a defective DNA repair process and are first to explain why certain mutations are not corrected in cells. The finding is important because genetic instability and accumulations of mutations lead to disease. This discovery may lead to ways of fixing the process to avoid Huntington's disease and some types of colon ca...Recombinant DNA technology may enable oral, rather than injectable, delivery of protein drugs
LOS ANGELES, May 6 - Transferrin, a plasma protein found in blood, can be fused with large, protein-based drugs such as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to create a new oral compound that is capable of surviving the journey through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and then able to cross over into the bloodstream to be used by the body, according to research from the University of Sout...A Dutch led international team of researchers has unravelled how nature releases the torque built up in DNA at the molecular level. The researchers from Delft University of Technology, the Ecole Normale Suprieure in Paris and the Sloan-Kettering institute in New York published their findings in the 31 March 2005 issue of Nature. An artistic impression of the enzyme at work is featured on the cove...