Having the ApoE4 gene variant is one of the strongest risk factors for developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease. Now, scientists have found out why. ApoE4 is less able to control production of the inflammatory cytokine cyclophilin A than other variants of the ApoE gene, and high levels of cyclophilin A set off inflammatory processes that ultimately damage the blood-brain barrier and the brain vasculature.
Anti-anxiety drugs such as the benzodiazepines target receptors for the neurotransmitter GABA, which is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter of the brain.
The data deluge that is the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) began with the release of the abstracts that will be presented at the conference, which will be held June 1-5 this year.
Researchers at British biotechnology firm Immunocore Ltd., with academic colleagues, have come up with a method to break T-cell tolerance to cancer cells and target tumor-specific proteins, even when those proteins are expressed at very low levels.
Scientists have reported they were able to improve memory in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment – a neurological condition somewhere between normal age-related memory loss and outright dementia that often progresses to Alzheimer's disease – by treating them with low doses of the anti-epileptic drug Keppra (levetiracetam, from Brussels, Belgium-based UCB SA).
The milk protein casein, Jack Dixon told BioWorld Today, was "the first protein ever to be shown to contain phosphate" – in 1883. And more than a century later, Dixon and his colleagues have finally identified the kinase that phosphorylates it. They reported their findings the May 10, 2012, advance online edition of Science.
Diseases that can develop resistance – in practical terms, cancers and some infectious diseases – rather quickly reveal the limits of targeted therapies.
Researchers at British biotechnology firm Immunocore Ltd., with academic colleagues, have come up with a method to break T-cell tolerance to cancer cells and target tumor-specific proteins, even when those proteins are expressed at very low levels.
After a first career in cancer, the mTOR kinase is a fairly recent addition to the list of longevity proteins – that is, proteins whose activation or inhibition can affect mammalian life span.
The Sonic Hedgehog pathway is a critical developmental pathway that is reactivated in a number of cancers. Results with targeting the pathway to treat cancers have been mixed, as drug development is wont to be. But the successes have been enough to keep trying.
