First trial of gene therapy for advanced heart failure shows promising results Nov 11, 2008
Patients enrolled in the multicenter CUPID trial (Calcium Up-Regulation by Percutaneous Administration of Gene Therapy in Cardiac Disease) undergo a minimally invasive cardiac catheterization procedure which introduces a specially engineered gene that stimulates production of an enzyme necessary for the heart to pump more efficiently. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center was the first to offer the therapy in the New York City area. (EurekAlert!)
Celladon Announces Presentation of Clinical Data From First-in-Human MYDICAR(R) Trial for Advanced Heart Failure at American Heart Association Scientific Sessions Nov 10, 2008
Phase 1 data from the "Calcium Up-Regulation by Percutaneous Administration of Gene Therapy in Cardiac Disease (CUPID Trial), a First-in-Human Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial" were presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2008. This first phase of the multi-center trial was designed to investigate safety and biological effects of restoring SERCA2a enzyme activity in heart muscle cells. (PR Newswire)
Research uncovers new steps on pathway to enlarged heart Oct 24, 2008
"It will be important to explore the role of the AKAP-Lbc/PKD/HDAC5 signaling pathway in whole animal models to establish whether AKAP-Lbc is a valid biomarker for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and to determine which genes are initiated upon up-regulation of the anchoring protein," offers Dr. Scott. . (EurekAlert!)
Gene Is Likely Cause Of Stroke-inducing Vascular Malformations Sep 6, 2008
Although more work needs to be done to determine whether the research can be applied to clinical practice and whether up-regulation of Notch causes BAVM and stroke in humans, identifying the role of this pathway offers hope for developing treatments for this and other related diseases, Wang said. The research was funded by the Foundation for Accelerated Vascular Research, American Heart Association, estate of Mildred V. Strouss, Campini Foundation, and NIH.. (Science Daily)
First gene therapy for heart failure offered at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Jun 19, 2008
Patients enrolled in the multicenter CUPID trial (Calcium Up-Regulation by Percutaneous Administration of Gene Therapy in Cardiac Disease) will undergo a minimally invasive cardiac catheterization procedure that will introduce a specially engineered gene that stimulates production of an enzyme necessary for the heart to pump more efficiently. "This new therapy seeks to replenish the levels of this enzyme by introducing the gene for SERCA2a, which is depressed in these patients. If proven... (EurekAlert!)
Combination Of Two Novel Anti-cancer Agents May Help Fight CML Resistant To Current Therapy Jun 2, 2008
In addition, the group demonstrated that vorinostat-mediated up-regulation of Bim, a pro-apoptotic protein, contributed significantly to the effectiveness of this regimen. "Our findings suggest it may be possible to develop a clinical regimen combining a third-generation Bcr/Abl kinase and aurora kinase inhibitor, such as MK-0457, with histone deacetylase inhibitors, such as vorinostat," Grant said. (Science Daily)
Researchers uncover mechanism of action of antibiotic able to reduce neuronal cell death in brain May 10, 2008
Once they identified critical regions in the EAAT2 promoter that might regulate activity, they found that alteration of one specific NF-kappaB site by mutation in the promoter was responsible for up-regulation of EAAT2 expression and consequently glutamate transport by ceftriaxone. This work not only has implications for the field of neurodegeneration and neurobiology, but may also help us more clearly understand brain cancer, including malignant glioma, an invariably fatal tumor, and how it... (EurekAlert!)
Specific Gene Increases Susceptibility To Breast Cancer May 7, 2008
Citation: Meyer KB, Maia A-T, O'Reilly M, Teschendorff AE, Chin S-F, et al. (2008) Allele-specific up-regulation of FGFR2 increases susceptibility to breast cancer. PLoS Biol 6(5):e108. (Science Daily)
NSAIDs: Painkillers, inflammation inhibitors, anti-cancer drugs and new de-methylating agents Mar 27, 2008
More importantly, we elucidated the underlying mechanism and demonstrated that up-regulation of SPARC in human lung cancer cells was mediated via inhibition of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) expression and promoter de-methylation. This is the first report to show that NSAIDs may inhibit the expression of DNMTs to reverse promoter methylation and to reactivate gene transcription. (EurekAlert!)
deCODE Obesity Study Sheds Light on How Genetics Affects Risk and Onset of Common Diseases Mar 17, 2008
Through analysis of adipose tissue from some 1700 Icelandic participants in obesity research cohorts, the deCODE team showed in data derived from primary human tissue that variations in gene expression -- in the up-regulation or downregulation of how genes are translated into proteins -- have a major impact on several parameters of clinical obesity. The deCODE team then used its unique resources for genome-wide linkage and association analysis to demonstrate that variability in gene expression,... (PR Newswire)
Genetic Alteration That Triggers Prostate Cancer In Mice And Man Confirmed Jan 30, 2008
Studying prostate cells in transgenic mice, Vasioukhin, Nelson and colleagues at the Hutchinson Center and the University of Washington found that up-regulation of ERG transcript initiates cancer growth ... They hypothesize that up-regulation of ERG in human prostate cancer activates cell-invasion programs, causing the displacement of basal cells by neoplastic epithelium, or cancerous tissue. (Science Daily)
Immune System May Target Some Brain Synapses, Researchers Find Dec 15, 2007
Up-regulation is the process by which a cell increases the amount of a molecule, such as a protein, in response to a change in its environment. Alzheimer's disease, which involves massive synapse loss, has a hundredfold up-regulation of complement proteins, he said ... "As synapse loss and C1q up-regulation are prominent features of all these diseases, our findings imply that drugs that blockade the complement cascade may provide a new treatment for many different neurodegenerative diseases,"... (Science Daily)
How can we know early who will benefit from tumor target therapy? Nov 22, 2007
Close relationships between these two factors exist: VEGF signaling is up-regulated by EGFR expression and, conversely, VEGF up-regulation independent of EGFR signaling seems to contribute to resistance to EGFR inhibition. Therefore, inhibition of both pathways could improve anti-tumor efficacy and overcome resistance to EGFR inhibition. (EurekAlert!)
Year End Report for Diamyd Medical AB, Fiscal Year 2006/2007 Oct 26, 2007
In fact, the data illustrated that patients treated with Diamyd responded with an up-regulation of certain beneficial cytokines at restimulation with GAD65 even 15 months after the first administration. In our view, this immunological data directly confirms the positive clinical results seen in the type 1 diabetes trial and further contributes to the large body of accumulated scientific evidence pointing to GAD65, the active ingredient of Diamyd, as an effective and safe immunomodulator that... (BusinessWire)
Chinese Medicine Compound Has Satisfactory Anti-cancer Effects On Hepatocellular Carcinoma Oct 17, 2007
Another interesting conclusion is that delisheng had satisfactory anti-cancer effects on HCC, and these were associated with the up-regulation of endostatin ... Furthermore, the view that the satisfactory effects of delisheng were associated with the up-regulation of endostatin made possible by ginseng might inspire other researchers ... Reference: Cui J, Nan KJ, Tian T, Guo YH, Zhao N, Wang L.Chinese medicinal compound delisheng has satisfactory anti-tumor activity, and is associated with... (Science Daily)
A search for biomarkers for early detection of colorectal cancer Sep 25, 2007
We clearly demonstrated that absence of mimecan and up-regulation of TXNDC5 were involved in the early development of colorectal cancer, said the articles first author Yinghong Wang. Our further work showed that mimecan can inhibit cell growth and induce cell apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells implying a candidate role as a tumor suppressor gene for the mimecan gene. (EurekAlert!)
Cytokine Resistance Contributes To Pathology Of Type 2 Diabetes Jun 15, 2007
The research team showed, for the first time, that the IRS-2 signaling arm of the interleukin-4 pathway directed the up-regulation of a key anti-inflammatory molecule in primary macrophages, and that this pathway was disrupted in type 2 diabetic conditions. They also showed that the loss of IL-4 function in diabese mice caused chronic over-expression of an important suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) protein. (Science Daily)
Carbon Metabolism And DNA Replication Tightly Linked, Study Finds May 18, 2007
In addition to its fundamental interest, the metabolism/replication link may be of medical importance as early events in carcinogenesis, which generally include an up-regulation of glycolysis (the Warburg effect) and a decrease in DNA stability and replication fidelity, may involve perturbations of the metabolism/replication link. Janni;re L, Canceill D, Suski C, Kanga S, Dalmais B, et al. (2007) Genetic Evidence for a Link Between Glycolysis and DNA Replication. (Science Daily)
