news archive genetic news - April 3, 2008

April 3, 2008

your information resource in human molecular genetics

-	How Synaptic Activity Protects Neurons Scientists have identified a key signalling pathway that could protect areas of the brain at risk of damage from ageing and neurodegenerative diseases.
-	A New Therapy Of Cystic Fibrosis A potential treatment for cystic fibrosis has been identified in mice.
-	The Best Of Both Worlds The creation of a combined positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner is reported online.
-	Therapeutic Cloning Treats Neurodegenerative Disease Therapeutic cloning can be used to treat Parkinson's disease in mice.
-	Colorectal Cancer Risk Variants Three new variants are associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer.
-	New Genetic Risk Factors For Type 2 Diabetes At least six regions of the genome harbor variants that predispose to type 2 diabetes.
-	RNA Trojan Horses Zero In On Liver Cirrhosis Using vitamin A to target the cells that cause liver cirrhosis may improve the treatment of the disease.
-	Route To Thwarting Skin Cancer A paper has identified how the cells in epithelial tumours signal to one another in order to keep the population of rogue stem cells topped up.
-	Moving In On Drug Resistance A paper in reveals a mechanism of how antifungal drugs have the unwanted effect of boosting the fungus' arsenal of pumps used to fight them off.
-	Smoking Receptors Mirror Lung Cancer Genes A region on chromosome 15 that hosts three nicotine receptor subunit genes is associated with risk of lung cancer.
-	MicroRNA Silencing In Non-Human Primates Researchers have effectively silenced microRNAs (miRNAs) in monkeys for the first time, targeting a liver-specific miRNA and reducing blood cholesterol as a result.
-	Genetic Blindness Treatments Emphasize Immune Role A promising treatment for age-related macular degeneration - responsible for up to 50 million cases of blindness worldwide - works by a more general mechanism than had previously been thought.
-	Novel Fullerene Shows Potential For Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis A water-soluble fullerene-NMDA receptor antagonist hybrid prevented disease progression in an animal model, by protecting against axonal loss and demyelination.