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Team of scientists develops non-invasive method to track nerve-cell development in live human brain

11-08-2007 · EurekAlert!

A team of scientists including researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have identified and validated the first biomarker that permits neural stem and progenitor cells to be tracked, non-invasively, in the brains of living human subjects. This important advance could lead to significantly better diagnosis and monitoring of brain tumors and a range of serious neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Keywords: team, scientists, develops, non-invasive, method, track, nerve-cell, development, live, human, brain, scientist, develop, non, invasive, nerve, cell

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Scientists develop method to track immune system enzyme in live animals
05-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
Scientists supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) at the National Institutes of Health have created two mouse strains that will permit researchers to trace, in a live animal, the activity of an enzyme believed to play a crucial role both in the normal immune response as well as autoimmunity and B cell tumor development.
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Interfering with vagal nerve activity in mice prevents diabetes and hypertension
02-06-2007 · EurekAlert!
Interrupting nerve signals to the liver can prevent diabetes and hypertension in mice, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The finding is reported in the February issue of the journal Cell Metabolism. The research team surgically removed the vagus nerve in mice and found the procedure prevented or reversed the development of insulin resistance and high blood pressure in mice primed to develop these disorders through treatment with glucocorticoids.
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Biomarkers predict risk for invasive breast cancer years before the tumor develops
11-12-2007 · EurekAlert!
A team of scientists from the University of California San Francisco has identified distinct molecular markers that predict whether or not a woman is likely to develop subsequent invasive cancer after initial diagnosis with a noninvasive form of early breast cancer. The research, published by Cell Press in the November issue of Cancer Cell, provides critical information that can be used to determine whether a woman should receive more or less aggressive therapy.
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Feinstein researchers develop new genetic method and identify novel genes for schizophrenia
12-03-2007 · EurekAlert!
Scientists at the Zucker Hillside Hospital campus of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have identified nine genetic markers that can increase a person's risk for schizophrenia. In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research team uncovered original evidence that this disabling brain disease can be inherited in a recessive manner. A recessive trait is one that is inherited from both parents.
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Novel 3-D cell culture model shows selective tumour uptake of nanoparticles
08-31-2007 · EurekAlert!
A nanoparticle drug delivery system designed for brain tumour therapy has shown promising tumour cell selectivity in a novel cell culture model devised by scientists at The University of Nottingham. The project, conducted jointly by the Schools of Pharmacy, Biomedical Sciences and Human Development, will be featured in the September issue of the Experimental Biology and Medicine.
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Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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Children with gene show reduced cognitive function
11-05-2007 · EurekAlert!
Children possessing a gene known to increase Alzheimer's disease risk already show signs of reduced cognitive function, an Oregon Health & Science University study has found. Scientists discovered that 7- to 10-year-olds with a member of a family of genes implicated in development, nerve cell regeneration and neuroprotection display reduced spatial learning and memory, associated with later-life cognitive impairments. This suggests brain changes predisposing a person to Alzheimer's might occur much sooner than previously thought.
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UCI launches effort to develop patient-specific stem cell lines
05-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
UC Irvine neurobiologist Hans Keirstead and his research team today launched a project to develop stem cell lines that genetically match human patients. These lines would allow scientists to better study conditions ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's disease, and they would provide the basis for potential patient-specific stem cell treatments.
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2 microRNAs promote spread of tumor cells
01-28-2008 · EurekAlert!
Scientists at The Wistar Institute and their colleagues have identified two microRNAs that promote tumors' deadly spread. One of the miRNAs may provide an early warning of metastatic breast cancer and the need for aggressive treatment. In a study to be published Feb. 1 in Nature Cell Biology that is available online, the researchers describe how two miRNAs transformed non-invasive human breast cancer cells into cells that rapidly metastasized in cell cultures and mice.
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Window into human behavior, brain disease seen in UCSF study
12-22-2006 · EurekAlert!
UCSF scientists have identified a cell population that is a primary target of the degenerative brain disease known as frontotemporal dementia, which is as common as Alzheimer's disease in patients who develop dementia before age 65.
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