The genes are composed of DNA and are carried on the chromosomes. Genes direct the production of all the molecules that form the structures that of a cell. Genes determine the inherited characteristics that distinguish one individual from another. Each human has an estimated 90,000 genes.
New method takes aim at aggressive cancer cells — Researchers use novel stem-cell method to discover chemical with potency against breast tumors in mice. – A multi-institutional team of Boston-area researchers has discovered a chemical salinomycin that works in mice to kill the rare but aggressive cells within breast cancers that have the ability to seed new tumors.
Found: A gene that may play a role in type 1 diabetes – Stanford University’s researchers have identified a gene that may play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the body’s insulin-producing cells.
Women often opt to surgically remove their breasts, ovaries to reduce cancer risk – Many women at high risk for breast or ovarian cancer are choosing to undergo surgery as a precautionary measure to decrease their cancer risk, revealed by US researchers.
Pancreatic cancer risk decreased by one anti-diabetic therapy, increased by others – The antidiabetic medication metformin is associated with a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer in diabetics, revealed by researchers. However, other commonly used therapies, such as insulin or insulin secretagogues, may be associated with increased risk.
UCLA scientists present first genetic evidence for why placebos work — Researchers find genetic link to placebo response in depressive disorder. – In people suffering from major depressive disorder, depression or MDD, genes that influence the brain’s reward pathways may modulate the response to placebos, revealed by researchers.
JNCI news brief: Thalidomide does not improve survival in small cell lung cancer – Treating patients with thalidomide in combination with chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) did not improve their survival but did increase their risk of blood clots, revealed by researchers.
Researchers uncover genetic variants linked to blood pressure in African-Americans — Findings may point to new avenues for treatment, prevention. – Five genetic variants related to blood pressure — hypertension — in African-Americans, revealed by a team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health, USA.
Scientists decode genome of deadly parasitic worm — Schistosoma mansoni — that causes intestinal schistosomiasis. – Researchers have sequenced the genome of the parasite — Schistosoma mansoni — that causes intestinal schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia or snail fever), a devastating tropical disease that afflicts more than 200 million people in the developing world.
Research identifies network of altered genes that appear to play role in development of brain tumors – The interaction between a network of altered genes appears to play an important role in the development and progression of brain tumors, revealed by researchers in the Journal of the American Medical Association — JAMA.
Australian researchers identify genes that cause melanoma – Two new genes that together double a person’s risk of developing melanoma are identified by researchers from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), Australia.
Researchers find genetic key to breast cancer’s ability to survive and spread – New research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) sheds light on a genetic function that gives breast cancer cells the ability to survive and spread to the bone years after treatment has been administered.
Moles and melanoma — researchers find genetic links to skin cancer – Why people with the greatest number of moles are at increased risk of the most dangerous form of skin cancer, this puzzle is solved by UK researchers. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Genetics.
