Latest Chemokine Stories

NORCROSS, Ga., April 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- RayBiotech, Inc. announced today that the application of its Mouse Cytokine Antibody Array has enabled the identification of key factors involved in the dissemination of leprosy infection in humans. This seminal research was conducted by Dr. Anura Rambukkana and colleagues at the Medical Research Council Center for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh and the Rockefeller University in New York. In this study, Dr. Rambukkana's...

LMU researchers led by Christian Weber have, for the first time, elucidated how cells that promote the development of atherosclerosis find their way to the blood vessel wall, where they stimulate the formation of obstructive deposits. Atherosclerosis is one of the commonest causes of death in modern societies. The condition is characterized by the build-up of fatty deposits called atherosclerotic plaques on the inner surfaces of arteries, which restrict, and may eventually cut off, blood...

Researchers at Rush University Medical Center, in collaboration with researchers at Northwestern University, have identified a molecular mechanism central to the development of osteoarthritis (OA) pain, a finding that could have major implications for future treatment of this often-debilitating condition. “Clinically, scientists have focused on trying to understand how cartilage and joints degenerate in osteoarthritis. But no one knows why it hurts,” said Dr. Anne-Marie Malfait,...

SAVAGE, Md., Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Chesapeake PERL has received a Small Business Innovation Research award from the National Cancer Institute to continue development of a protein nanoparticle linked to an antitumor agent as a potential lung cancer therapeutic. C-PERL collaborators in the laboratory of Dr. Leonard Rome, Professor of Biological Chemistry at UCLA have identified and characterized the vault particle, a unique nanoparticle structure ubiquitous in eukaryotes....

It is not primary tumors that are responsible for the majority of cancer deaths, but rather their metastases. Physiologists and neuropathologists from the University of Zurich have now identified the origin of metastasis formation, thereby becoming the first to reveal the pathway of metastasizing intestinal cancer cells out of the blood stream. The results allow new approaches in the development of cancer therapies. Every year, over seven million people die of cancer worldwide. Thanks to...

Potential new treatment for metastatic colon cancer How does a tumor cell set up a signaling pathway in order to metastasize? Scientists at Technische Universität München's (TUM) Klinikum rechts der Isar and Helmholtz Zentrum München have made a significant discovery in this area by studying colon cancer. They have learned that the tumor cells release certain proteins known as chemokines. In the case of metastatic colon cancer cells, the chemokine concerned is CCL2. The CCL2 chemokine...

Study finds that HIV receptor CCR5 is induced by oncogenes in breast cancer cells, too The HIV drugs known as CCR5 antagonists may also help prevent aggressive breast cancers from metastasizing, researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson suggest in a preclinical study published in a recent issue of Cancer Research. Such drugs target the HIV receptor CCR5, which the virus uses to enter and infect host cells, and has historically only been associated with expression in...

Potential role in HIV treatment and prevention under study Scientists have identified a new HIV-suppressing protein in the blood of people infected with the virus. In laboratory studies, the protein, called CXCL4 or PF-4, binds to HIV such that it cannot attach to or enter a human cell. The research was led by Paolo Lusso, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Section of Viral Pathogenesis in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ChemoCentryx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCXI) today announced that Thomas J. Schall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the 19th Annual Future Leaders in the Biotech Industry conference on Friday, April 20, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time at the Millennium Broadway Hotel & Conference Center in New York, NY. A live webcast of the presentation can be accessed through the Investors section of the Company's...

A previously unknown serine protease forms part of the antibacterial defense arsenal of neutrophil granulocytes Neutrophil granulocytes comprise important defenses for the immune system. When pathogenic bacteria penetrate the body, they are the first on the scene to mobilize other immune cells via signal molecules, thereby containing the risk. To this end, they release serine proteases – enzymes that cut up other proteins to activate signal molecules. Scientists at the Max Planck...