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Showing posts from September, 2017

Taking a closer look at genetic switches in cancer

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It is a crystal construction of a portion of human DPF2, a protein that controls a genetic change that tells blood stem cells when to change into pink and white blood cells. Orange and yellow areas illustrate the DPF2 'reader' area, which is stabilized by zinc ions, represented as pink and gray spheres. Credit score: Hoelz Lab/Caltech Many issues go incorrect in cells in the course of the growth of most cancers. On the coronary heart of the chaos are sometimes genetic switches that management the manufacturing of recent cells. In a very aggressive type of leukemia, known as acute myeloid leukemia, a genetic change that regulates the maturation of blood stem cells into pink and white blood cells goes awry. Usually, this change results in applicable numbers of white and pink blood cells. However sufferers with acute myeloid leukemia find yourself with a harmful accumulation of blood stem cells and an absence of pink and white...

RNA molecule that shields breast cancer stem cells from immune system

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Researchers from Princeton College's Division of Molecular Biology h ave recognized a small RNA molecule that helps keep the exercise of stem cells in each wholesome and cancerous breast tissue. Above, the microscopic picture exhibits totally different cell varieties within the regular mammary ducts of a mouse. The luminal cells (purple) are milk-producing cells and the basal cells (inexperienced) have contractile capabilities, but additionally are liable for regenerating the mammary gland, as they include nearly all of mammary gland stem cells. These stem cells, situated within the outer layer of the gland, are uncovered to microenvironmental elements and work together with varied immune cells, together with macrophages, within the mammary gland. Credit score: Picture courtesy of Toni CeliĂ -Terrassa and Yibin Kang, Division of Molecular Biology Researchers from Princeton College's Division of Molecular Biology have recognize...

New hair growth mechanism discovered

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In a extremely magnified cross part of mouse pores and skin, fluorescent Tregs (purple) are seen clustered round hair follicles and hairs (inexperienced). Credit score: Rosenblum lab/UCSF In experiments in mice, UC San Francisco researchers have found that regulatory T cells (Tregs; pronounced "tee-regs"), a kind of immune cell usually related to controlling irritation, instantly set off stem cells within the pores and skin to advertise wholesome hair progress . With out these immune cells as companions, the researchers discovered, the stem cells can't regenerate hair follicles, resulting in baldness. "Our hair follicles are consistently recycling: when a hair falls out, the entire hair follicle has to develop again," stated Michael Rosenblum, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of dermatology at UCSF and senior writer on the brand new paper. "This has been considered a completely stem cell-dependent course of...

Cigarette damage to unborn children revealed in stem cell study

Scientists say the potent cocktail of chemicals in cigarettes is particularly harmful to developing liver cells and affects male and female fetuses differently. Researchers -- led by the University of Edinburgh -- have developed a novel way to study the effects of maternal smoking on liver tissue using embryonic stem cells. The stem cell technique will provide important information about the long-term effects of maternal cigarette smoking, say experts. The liver is vital in clearing toxic substances and plays a major role in regulating metabolism. Smoking cigarettes -- which contain around 7000 chemicals -- can damage fetal organs and may do lasting harm. Scientists used pluripotent stem cells -- non-specialised cells that have the distinctive ability to be able to transform into other cell types -- to build fetal liver tissue. Liver cells were exposed to harmful chemicals found in cigarettes, including specific substances known to circulate in fetuses when mothers smoke...

Understanding proteins and their impact on immune system

The study, conducted in conjunction with researchers from Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, was published today in  Science Signaling  and focusses on a protein called ULBP6. Proteins are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller units called amino acids , which are attached to one another in long chains. Proteins do most of the work in cells and are required for the structure, function, and regulation of the body's tissues and organs. Lead author of the study Professor Paul Moss from the University of Birmingham's Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, said: "We worked on a protein called ULBP6 which leads to the removal of damaged cells and an interesting observatio n has been that there are two types of this protein found in different people. "This is important as previous studies have shown that the type of protein that we inherit from our parents can influence our risk of auto-immune disease and affect how we respond to some forms of cancer...

New insights into mechanisms regulating gene expression in embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem cells have a unique ability to form all the cell and tissue types of an adult human body. The mechanisms that control this ability have been the target of active research, as stem cells are expected to be an important tool in future medicine. The research results of the research groups of Lund and Lahesmaa have been reported in the  Stem Cell Reports  journal. - Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms of how POLR3G gene regulates stem cell state, which in turn sheds light on the complex mechanisms with which human embryonic stem cells both self-renew and maintain the ability to differentiate. The results point to indirect genomic regulatory mechanisms which are important for embryonic stem cells and maintain gene expression, say Riikka Lund and Riitta Lahesmaa. Stem cell research is one of the central research areas of modern medicine. The current and most important applications of stem cell research are related to disease diagnostics and ...

One gene closer to regenerative therapy for muscular disorders

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This microscopic picture of fibroblast cells reveals the induction of cell fusion by a newly described gene and its protein, known as myomerger. Multi-nucleus cells expressing genes wanted to kind skeletal muscle might be seen in flower-like clumps forming as cells fuse collectively. Reporting ends in Nature Communications, the researchers search methods to develop regenerative therapies for muscle problems by getting stem cells to fuse and kind functioning skeletal muscle tissues. Credit score: Cincinnati Kids's A detour on the street to regenerative drugs f or folks with muscular problems is determining easy methods to coax muscle stem cells to fuse collectively and kind functioning skeletal muscle tissues. A research printed June 1 by  Nature Communications experiences scientists determine a brand new gene important to this course of, shedding new mild on doable new therapeutic methods. Led by researchers on the Cincinnati Kids...

Immunology: How ancestry shapes our immune cells

All blood cell types are generated in th e bone marrow. In a process called hematopoiesis, so-called multipotent hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells progressively give rise to the different types of cells found in the bloodstream. Among these are the neutrophils and the erythrocytes (aka red blood cells). Duffy-negative individuals lack a specific protein, the atypical chemokine receptor 1 (abbreviated ACKR1), normally found on the surface of the erythrocytes. ACKR1 is known to interact with signal molecules called chemokines that regulate immune responses. However, some pathogens responsible for malaria use this receptor to dock onto and subsequently invade red blood cells. This explains why people who lack this receptor are more resistant to some types of malaria. "But how the lack of ACKR1 on red blood cells alters the balance of white blood cell types was entirely unknown up to now," DuchĂȘne says. Using the mouse as an experimental model, DuchĂȘne and his c...

New insights into how the Zika virus causes microcephaly

Since 2016 thousands of children across South America have been born with microcephaly, which causes abnormally small heads, after their mothers became infected with the Zika virus during pregnancy. The overlap between Zika cases in pregnant women and an increase in babies born with microcephaly strongly suggested that the virus targets stem cells in the developing human brain, but why and how has remained a mystery. Today's study is the first to associate MSI1 with microcephaly and the Zika virus. Dr Fanni Gergely from the University o f Cambridge said: "The development of a healthy human brain is an incredibly complex process that relies on stem cells and the coordinated actions of many genes. We've shown for the first time this interaction between Zika and MSI1 -- with MSI1 getting exploited by the virus for its own destructive life cycle, turning MSI1 into the enemy within. We hope that in the future this discovery could lead to ways of generating potential Zika...

Protein that stem cells require could be a target in killing breast cancer cells

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Researchers have found chromatin-regulating protein referred to as BPTF should be current for stem cells within the breast to carry out their regular features -- sustaining a provide of stem cells and seeding the breast with specialised new cells when wanted, as an example, throughout being pregnant. On the mouse equal of mid-pregnancy, there may be usually (left aspect) a proliferation of milk ducts (the small purple buildings in each pictures). When BPTF is knocked out in mouse mammary stem cells early in being pregnant, nonetheless, there's a drastic decline within the quantity ductal buildings (proper aspect). Dos Santos and colleagues means that knocking out BPTF in breast most cancers cells may suppress or kill them. Credit score: Dos Santos Lab, CSHL For years, most cancers consultants have realized that cancerous cells behave in sure methods like stem cells, unspecialized cells that when uncovered to sure alerts, can "differ...