The theory behind targeted cancer drugs is simple: find the key gene mutations driving growth of tumors and then devise drugs that block those mutated proteins.
That may be good enough for mapping key signposts on chromosomes or rapidly locating a few key gene variations, says Venter, who recently joined the company's board.
When this ability was damped down by removing a key muscle production gene from the fish, they produced scars at the wound site instead.
DeCode researchers spent four years analyzing the DNA of the Arnasons and thousands of other Icelandic heart patients, unearthing a couple of key suspects:two gene variants, previously thought to be involved in asthma, that nearly double the risk of heart attack by boosting levels of a molecule that promotes inflammation of the artery walls.
DeCode is now screening for compounds to target the gene and a key receptor.
DeCode is screening for compounds to target the gene and a key receptor.
This gene plays a key role in regulating the flow of calcium through the heart, enabling it to beat effectively.
Genasense, which is used in combination with chemotherapy, works by targeting a key "cell suicide" gene called bcl-2 and then inducing cancer cells to kill themselves.
Professor Ashok Venkitaraman and colleagues at the Hutchison Medical Research Council Centre in Cambridge, working with Dr. Luca Pellegrini and Professor Tom Blundell at the Cambridge University Department of Biochemistry, discovered that the BRCA2 gene controls a key molecule called Rad51.
They found that the gene interacts with a key part of the immune system, a chemical called interferon gamma.
She says they injected intravenously two differing amounts of an RNA snippet that blocks the gene that makes apolipoprotein B, a key component in cholesterol.
Some say that doctors need to do a better job of identifying the key driver mutations inside common tumors, using newfangled gene sequencing machines and other exotic technologies.
He added that gene therapy to knock out the mutation of the key CCR5 receptor was a possibility for future treatment.
Academic researchers studying families with gene defects that caused bad cholesterol levels to soar had uncovered key biology responsible for cholesterol production.
In March, Oxford University researchers pinpointed variations of a gene that controls dopamine, a brain chemical associated with feelings of pleasure, as playing a key role in smoking addiction.
The bad version of the gene appears to boost osteoporosis risk by limiting the production of the BMP-2 protein, a key molecular stimulator of bone growth, says Dr. Stefansson.
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