Archive for September, 2007

The scientist who discovered “Sly Syndrome” nearly four decades ago and a team of colleagues at Saint Louis University are a step closer to finding an approach to treat the rare genetic disease. Sly Syndrome causes bone defects, mental retardation, vision and hearing problems, heart disease and premature death.
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Delivering Medicine To Fight against Sly Syndrome

Researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health have identified the gene that accounts for most cases of Goltz syndrome, a rare skin disorder that can also affect bone and eye development.

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Researchers Discover Gene For Goltz syndrome

The interplay of two proteins that bind to messenger RNA, a molecule that mediates translation of the information encoded in genes into proteins, triggers the appearance of fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FTAX), a late-life disorder associated with the gene that causes fragile X syndrome in children, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Emory University School of Medicine in a report that appears August 15 in the journal Neuron.

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Proteins Involved In New Neurodegenerative Syndrome Identifed

The interplay of two proteins that bind to messenger RNA, a molecule that mediates translation of the information encoded in genes into proteins, triggers the appearance of fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FTAX), a late-life disorder associated with the gene that causes fragile X syndrome in children, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Emory University School of Medicine in a report that appears August 15 in the journal Neuron.

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Gene responsible for Fetal Alcohol syndrome

Improving the effect of chemotherapy against ovarian cancer may soon be as simple as drinking a glass of cranberry juice, suggests new research. In laboratory experiments, pre-treating ovarian tumor cells with the juice gave a six-fold boost to the cancer-killing power of medications, researchers say.

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Cranberries in the treatment of Ovarian Cancer

Scientists have discovered how the gene mutation responsible for fragile X syndrome–the most common inherited form of mental retardation–alters the way brain cells communicate. In neurons cultured from laboratory rats, the scientists also were able to reverse the effects of the mutation using a drug targeted to the specific site in an upstream pathway of the defect. The finding could lead to the development of human therapies for this previously untreatable condition.

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Brain defect might be a target for the treatment of Fragile X Syndrome