In a discovery that could have practical implications both for developing pain drugs and treatments for neuroinflammatory diseases, scientists have identified an enzyme that contributes to the production of pro-inflammatory prostaglandins in the brain, lung and liver, but not in the gut or heart.The discovery, senior author Benjamin Cravatt told BioWorld Today, is in some ways reminiscent of the discovery of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2).
A group of four papers published in Cell has provided further evidence that a new function can be potentially attributed to any RNA molecule, both protein-coding and noncoding.
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have shown that Sirt2, a member of the anti-aging sirtuin family, functions as a tumor suppressor – and that it does so for different tumor types for males and females. In mice, knocking out Sirt2 led to high rates of breast tumors in females, while about a quarter of male mice (but only one out of 26 female mice) lacing the gene developed liver cancer.
A study published this week described how systemic inflammatory response syndrome can progress to shock, and suggested that a cell type that has long been recognized as a biomarker of systemic trouble could, in fact, be the driving force behind that progress. The work could find practical applications in shock, as well as dengue vaccine research.
MONTREAL ‑ At this week’s American Society for Human Genetics annual meeting, where there is a whole genome sequence there is somebody bringing up privacy concerns. Do you really want your genome data to be laid bare? Will it start in a research database, move to your doctor’s office, and soon enough be found floating around on the Internet? Most of those privacy concerns focus on medical issues, which makes a lot of sense. Certainly, most people would not feel warm and fuzzy about having their insurance companies know that, like Craig Venter, they have a higher-than-average risk of developing...
MONTREAL – At the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting, the contrast between the imagined future and the present is sometimes jarring.
MONTREAL – It may be the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics. But scientists here devoted a lively discussion yesterday morning to what will be needed in addition to genetics to wrest greater clinical significance from genomewide association studies (GWAS).
