Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers have identified a major indicator of two deadly diseases of the heart and blood vessels: heart failure and aortic aneurysm.

Acetylation

Scientists at the University of Delaware have developed a new method for producing proteins critical to research on cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases.

A paper published online today in Molecular Cell proposes that Methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) impacts the entire genome in neurons, rather than acting as a regulator of specific genes. Mutations in MeCP2 cause the autism spectrum disorder Rett Syndrome as well as some cases of neuropsychiatric problems including autism, schizophrenia and learning disabilities.

It is not unusual to hear people blame their metabolism after gaining a few pounds. But changes in metabolism - the process that shapes how our bodies turn food into energy -- can have much more sinister effects than making it hard to fit into your favorite jeans.

PrognosDx Health, Inc. announced today that in an independent research study published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, cellular levels of histone modifications define previously unrecognized subsets of patients with pancreatic cancer with distinct epigenetic phenotypes and clinical outcomes.

The kinase IKK phosphorylates the protein mutated in Huntington's disease to promote its removal and neuron survival, but IKK may be a double-edged sword that increases neurotoxicity in later stages of the disease. The study, led by researchers from the University of California, Irvine, will be published online December 21 in the Journal of Cell Biology (www.jcb.org).

According to a national poll of oncologists and clinical research professionals, there is a high level of optimism about the potential of clinical trials for personalized medicine. While oncologists view cost as a barrier to treatment and research, they think policy initiatives are opportunities to effectively promote personalized medicine.

To highlight results of more recent research, the AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics International Conference will host a press briefing on "Drugs in the Pipeline." Sara A. Courtneidge, Ph.D., D.Sc., professor and director of the Tumor Microenvironment Program, and director of academic affairs at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, will moderate this press briefing.

A powerful new breast cancer treatment could result from packaging one of the newer drugs that inhibits cancer's hallmark wild growth with another that blocks a primordial survival technique in which the cancer cell eats part of itself, researchers say.