Cryo-electron microscopy by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers has exposed the structure of a bacterial virus with unprecedented detail. This is the first structure of a virus able to infect Staphylococcus epidermidis, and high-resolution knowledge of structure is a key link between viral biology and potential therapeutic use of the virus to quell bacterial … Read more
Researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have shown that a protein complex that governs gene expression (called CoREST) sometimes gets rewired during breast cancer to help estrogen receptor positive (ER+) tumors resist endocrine therapies and become more aggressive. These findings show that specific protein components in … Read more
A single IV infusion of NTLA-2001, a novel CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing therapy, significantly reduced circulating transthyretin (TTR) protein levels in patients with ATTR amyloid fatal cardiomyopathy, a progressive and cause of heart failure, according to late-breaking research presented today at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2022. The meeting, held in person in Chicago and … Read more
Scientists have discovered a mechanism by which an area of a protein shape-shifts to convert vitamin A into a form usable by the eye’s light-sensing photoreceptor cells. A previously uncharacterized area of the protein known as RPE65 spontaneously turns spiral-shaped when it encounters intracellular membranes, or thin structures that surround different parts of a cell. … Read more
Many diseases have at their origin a protein that does not function properly. Now, a multidisciplinary research team with Texas A&M AgriLife and Texas A&M University has found a way to deliver a protein quickly, effectively and briefly to the brain, with therapeutic and scientific implications. Potential uses for the method in the future could … Read more
For years, cardiologists have zeroed in on a hormone called BNP as a gold standard to determine if patients with heart failure are at risk of severe illness or death. It’s released by the heart in response to when the cardiac tissue stretches due to pressure. While the B-type natriuretic peptide, or BNP, is a … Read more