Latest Cellular processes Stories
The foundation of biological inheritance is DNA replication This is a coordinated process in which DNA is copied at hundreds of thousands of different sites across the genome at the same time. If the copying mechanism doesn't work properly, the result may be cells with missing or extra genetic material, a hallmark of the genomic instability seen in most birth defects and cancers. Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have discovered a protein known as Cdt1....
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...
Researchers at the University of California, Davis have discovered a key tool that helps sperm and eggs develop exactly 23 chromosomes each. The work, which could lead to insights into fertility, spontaneous miscarriages, cancer and developmental disorders, is published April 13 in the journal Cell. Healthy humans have 46 chromosomes, 23 from the sperm and 23 from the egg. An embryo with the wrong number of chromosomes is usually miscarried, or develops disorders such as Down's syndrome,...
A new finding in basic science should trigger a "change in thinking" about how cancer drugs might be developed and tested for maximum effectiveness, says Louis M. Weiner, M.D., director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, in a "Clinical Implications of Basic Research" article titled Tumor-Cell Death, Autophagy, and Immunity published in the March 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). An internationally known expert in immunotherapy research, Weiner was...
Salk scientists' discovery explains how a class of chemotherapy drugs works The well-being of living cells requires specialized squads of proteins that maintain order. Degraders chew up worn-out proteins, recyclers wrap up damaged organelles, and-most importantly-DNA repair crews restitch anything that resembles a broken chromosome. If repair is impossible, the crew foreman calls in executioners to annihilate a cell. As unsavory as this last bunch sounds, failure to summon them is one...
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Blocking autophagy – the process of "self-eating" within cells – is turning out to be a viable way to enhance the effectiveness of a wide variety of cancer treatments. Autophagy increases in cancer cells. Normally, it serves as a survival pathway, allowing a cell to recycle damaged proteins when it's under stress and reuse the damaged parts to fuel further growth. It is believed, that cancer cells might be addicted to autophagy, since this innate response may be...
Lipids help control the development of cell polarity In a standard biology textbook, cells tend to look more or less the same from all sides. But in real life cells have fronts and backs, tops and bottoms, and they orient many of their structures according to this polarity explaining, for example, why yeast cells bud at one end and not the other. Over the last few years, Rong Li, Ph.D., and her team at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have figured out many important details of...
Researchers from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, discover how enzymatic onslaughts at the ends of our chromosomes are countered Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have discovered the crucial role of two proteins in developing a cell 'anti-enzyme shield'. This protection system, which operates at the level of molecular 'caps' named telomeres, prevents cells from treating chromosome ends like accidental DNA breaks and 'repairing' them. Joining chromosome...
The health benefits of exercise on blood sugar metabolism may come from the body's ability to devour itself, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in the journal Nature. Autophagy is a process by which a cell responds to starvation and other stresses by degrading damaged or unneeded parts of itself to produce energy. It is sometimes called the cell's housekeeping pathway. "Exercise is known to have many health benefits but the mechanisms have been unclear. Autophagy is also...
