Latest Autophagy Stories

Researchers at  Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of South Florida and Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital in China have discovered that combining chemotherapy drugs and immunotherapy cancer vaccines results in an enhanced anti-tumor effect. The results, achieved by testing cancer cells in a laboratory, are surprising because chemotherapy generally reduces immunity and could cancel out the benefits of immunotherapy when given together. Their study...

The body has a built-in system known as autophagy, or 'self-eating,' that controls how cells live or die. Deregulation of autophagy is linked to the development of human diseases, including neural degeneration and cancer. In a study published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Oxford discovered a critical molecular switch that regulates autophagy. They also studied the links between autophagy...

Singapore, July 4, 2012 - (ACN Newswire) - A*STAR scientists from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) and the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC) have discovered a new signalling pathway that controls both obesity and atherosclerosis. The team demonstrated, for the first time, that mice deficient in the Wip1 gene were resistant to weight gain and atherosclerosis via regulation of the Ataxia telangiectasia mutated gene (ATM) and its downstream signalling molecule mTor. These...

Researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered a single molecule they say is a major determinant of resistance to anti-estrogen therapy used to treat or prevent breast cancer in high-risk women. In the July 1 issue of Cancer Research, the scientists say glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), activated as breast cells undergo stress induced by the agents tamoxifen and fulvestrant, turns off apoptosis, a cell death response, and turns on autophagy. In autophagy,...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Researchers have discovered a single molecule that they say is a major cause of resistance to anti-estrogen therapy used to prevent or treat breast cancer in high-risk women. The researchers say glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), which is triggered as breast cells become stressed from the agents tamoxifen and fulvestrant, turns off apoptosis (a cell death response) and turns on autophagy. Autophagy occurs when the cell "eats" and digests components within the cell...

A multi-institutional research study has uncovered a new mechanism that may lead to unique treatments for lung cancer, one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The study recently published in the journal Genes & Development was a collaboration between Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine, the University of California, San Diego, the University of Minnesota and St. Jude...

Preclinical study links aging and cancer, with lethal host metabolism in the tumor microenvironment It has long been known that cancer is a disease of aging, but a molecular link between the two has remained elusive. Now, researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson (KCC) have shown that senescence (aging cells which lose their ability to divide) and autophagy (self-eating or self-cannibalism) in the surrounding normal cells of a tumor are essentially two sides of the same coin,...

Potent new drug kills tumor cells in mice by clogging up their recycling system All cells have the ability to recycle unwanted or damaged proteins and reuse the building blocks as food. But cancer cells have ramped up the system, called autophagy, and rely on it to escape damage in the face of chemotherapy and other treatments. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine; the Abramson Cancer Center; and the School of Arts and Sciences, at the University of Pennsylvania, have...

DNA from the heart's own cells plays a role in heart failure by mistakenly activating the body's immune system, according to a study by British and Japanese researchers DNA from the heart's own cells plays a role in heart failure by mistakenly activating the body's immune system, according to a study by British and Japanese researchers, co-funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Scientists from King's College London and Osaka University Medical School in Japan showed that during...

Pathogen interferes with important survival process in cells whose job is to fight infection Scientists have found why a certain type of bacteria, harmless in healthy people, is so deadly to patients with cystic fibrosis. The bacterium, Burkholderia cenocepacia, causes a severe and persistent lung infection in patients with CF and is resistant to nearly all known antibiotics. Cystic fibrosis is a chronic disorder characterized by a buildup of mucus in the lungs and other parts of the...