PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Exact outline of melanoma could lead to new diagnostic tools, therapies

Exact outline of melanoma could lead to new diagnostic tools, therapies
2014-05-09
(Press-News.org) CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have identified a specific biochemical process that can cause normal and healthy skin cells to transform into cancerous melanoma cells, which should help predict melanoma vulnerability and could also lead to future therapies.

More than 70,000 cases of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, develop in the U.S. every year.

The work was published today in PLoS Genetics, in work supported by the National Institutes of Health.

"We believe this is a breakthrough in understanding exactly what leads to cancer formation in melanoma," said Arup Indra, an associate professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy. "We've found that some of the mechanisms which ordinarily prevent cancer are being switched around and actually help promote it.

"In melanoma, the immune system is getting thrown into reverse," he said. "Immune cells that previously were attracted to help deal with a problem are instead repulsed."

The key to this process, the researchers said, is a protein called retinoid-X-receptor, or RXR. When present in an adequate amount, the RXR protein aids the proper operation of the immune response in the skin. Primary players in this are skin cells called melanocytes, which produce protective pigments, or melanin, in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight – in simple terms, a suntan.

Even with this protection, however, both melanocytes and other skin cells called keratinocytes routinely suffer genetic damage. Sometimes the damage can be repaired, and at other times the immune response – in the presence of adequate levels of RXR in the melanocytes – will kill the defective skin cells before they become malignant.

When expressed levels of RXR are too low in the melanocytes, however, this protective process breaks down. The chemicals that can help control mutated cells are actually suppressed, and the conditions for cancer promoted. DNA-mutated melanocytes begin to thrive at the same time other skin cells die and free up space for the growing, mutating melanocytes. The ultimate result can be the malignancy known as melanoma, which in turn can spread from the skin throughout the body.

"When there isn't enough RXR, the melanocytes that exist to help shield against cancer ultimately become part of the problem," Indra said. "It's routine to have genetic damage from sunlight, because normally those cells can be repaired or killed if necessary. It's the breakdown of these control processes that result in cancer, and that happens when RXR levels get too low."

This process has not before been outlined in its entirety, Indra said, and the new findings open several possibilities. One would be a diagnostic test to determine when RXR levels are lower than they should be – which would set the stage for melanoma and possibly other cancers, but also with careful monitoring facilitate earlier diagnosis.

Beyond that, mechanisms may be developed to stabilize or stimulate the levels of RXR expression, and form the basis for a therapy. This might be done through diet or a "nanocarrier" drug that could deliver RXR to cells, Indra said.

"It's quite possible that a new and effective therapy can now be developed, based on increasing levels of RXR," Indra said.

INFORMATION: Researchers in France and at the Knight Cancer Institute of the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Ore., contributed to this research.

Editor's Note: A digital graphic to illustrate this story is available online: http://bit.ly/1hcF2rj

About the OSU College of Pharmacy: The College of Pharmacy prepares students of today to be the pharmacy practitioners and pharmaceutical sciences researchers of tomorrow by contributing to improved health, advancing patient care and the discovery and understanding of medicines.

This research was supported by grant numbers ES016629-01A1, ES00210, and T32 CA106195from the National Institutes of Health.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Exact outline of melanoma could lead to new diagnostic tools, therapies

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

IL-27 balances the immune response to influenza and reduces lung damage

IL-27 balances the immune response to influenza and reduces lung damage
2014-05-09
Highly pathogenic (dangerous) influenza strains elicit a strong immune response which can lead to uncontrolled inflammation in the lung and potentially fatal lung injury. A study published on May 8th in PLOS Pathogens demonstrates the importance of IL-27 for the control of immunopathology—damage to the lung tissue caused by the immune system—and the therapeutic potential of well-timed IL-27 application to treat life-threatening inflammation during lung infection. Alf Hamann, from Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and colleagues, ...

SOCS4 prevents a cytokine storm and helps to clear influenza virus from the lung

2014-05-09
Certain influenza strains are highly virulent—they cause more serious disease and kill more people. Some of the damage is caused by the stronger immune response such strains elicit, especially in the lung. A study published on May 8th in PLOS Pathogens identifies SOCS4 as a key regulator of the immune response against influenza virus. Lukasz Kedzierski, Sandra Nicholson, and colleagues from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the University of Melbourne, Australia, studied mice with a mutation in the Socs4 gene, a member of a gene family whose ...

An extra doctor visit may help prevent rehospitalization of kidney failure patients

2014-05-09
Washington, DC (May 8, 2014) — More frequent face-to-face physician visits in the month following hospital discharge may help reduce a kidney failure patient's chances of needing to be sent back to the hospital. That's the conclusion of a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The study also found that closer outpatient monitoring of kidney failure patients following hospital discharge could cut health care costs significantly. A major goal of health policy reform has been to reduce hospital readmissions within ...

Neurovance's EB-1020 SR for adult ADHD shows stimulant-like efficacy in Phase 2a trial

2014-05-09
Neurovance, Inc. today announced complete results from its phase 2a pilot study of EB-1020 SR, a non-stimulant, in adult male patients with all subtypes of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). EB-1020 SR is a norepinephrine- and dopamine-preferring triple reuptake inhibitor. The data showed a statistically significant improvement in ADHD symptoms on the ADHD-Rating Scale-IV (ADHD-RS-IV), the primary outcome measure, in a range similar to that reported in previously published trials with stimulants. EB-1020 SR appears to be well tolerated at the doses studied. ...

Ending the perfect storm: Protein key to beating flu pandemics

Ending the perfect storm: Protein key to beating flu pandemics
2014-05-09
VIDEO: A protein called SOCS4 has been shown to act as a handbrake on the immune system's runaway reaction to flu infection, providing a possible means of minimising the impact of... Click here for more information. A protein called SOCS4 has been shown to act as a handbrake on the immune system's runaway reaction to flu infection, providing a possible means of minimising the impact of flu pandemics. Scientists from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have found that ...

Lethal parasite evolved from pond scum

Lethal parasite evolved from pond scum
2014-05-09
A genomic investigation by University of British Columbia researchers has revealed that a lethal parasite infecting a wide range of insects actually originated from pond scum, but has completely shed its green past on its evolutionary journey. A team led by UBC Botany Prof. Patrick Keeling sequenced the genome of Helicosporidium – an intracellular parasite that can kill juvenile blackflies, caterpillars, beetles and mosquitoes – and found it evolved from algae like another notorious pathogen: malaria. Keeling and colleagues had previously reported that malaria shared ...

Eating more fruits, vegetables may cut stroke risk worldwide

2014-05-08
Eating more fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of stroke worldwide, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke. Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 20 studies published over the last 19 years to assess the effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on risk of stroke globally. The combined studies involved 760,629 men and women who had 16,981 strokes. Stroke risk decreased by 32 percent with every 200 grams of fruit consumed each day and 11 percent with every 200 grams of vegetables consumed each day. "Improving diet and lifestyle ...

Common test used on heart patients who need defibrillator implants unnecessary: Study

2014-05-08
Hamilton, ON (May 8, 2014) – New research from McMaster University suggests that a commonly performed test during certain types of heart surgery is not helpful and possibly harmful. The testing procedure, known as defibrillator testing (DT), is commonly used on people who require implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) to prevent sudden cardiac death. It involves putting the patient into cardiac arrest to determine if the defibrillator can first recognize, then successfully shock the patient back into a normal heart rhythm. It requires the use of general anesthesia ...

Study confirms mitochondrial deficits in children with autism

2014-05-08
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Children with autism experience deficits in a type of immune cell that protects the body from infection. Called granulocytes, the cells exhibit one-third the capacity to fight infection and protect the body from invasion compared with the same cells in children who are developing normally. The cells, which circulate in the bloodstream, are less able to deliver crucial infection-fighting oxidative responses to combat invading pathogens because of dysfunction in their tiny energy-generating organelles, the mitochondria. The study is published ...

Mid-level solar flare erupts from the sun

Mid-level solar flare erupts from the sun
2014-05-08
The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 6:07 a.m. EDT on May 8, 2014, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, captured images of it. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. To see how this event may impact Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Process for dealing with sexual misconduct by doctors requires major reform

Severe pregnancy sickness raises risk of mental health conditions by over 50%

Early humans may have walked from Türkiye to mainland Europe, new groundbreaking research suggests

New study shows biochar’s electrical properties can influence rice field methane emissions

Guangdong faces largest chikungunya outbreak on record

Tirzepatide improves blood sugar control in children aged 10-17 years with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on existing therapies (SURPASS-PEDS trial)

An old drug, in a low dose, shown to be safe and effective in preventing progression of type 1 diabetes in children and young people (MELD-ATG trial)

Study reports potential effects of verapamil in slowing progression of type 1 diabetes

Fresh hope for type 1 diabetes as daily pill that slows onset confirms promise at 2-year follow-up

New estimates predict over 4 million missing people who would be alive in 2025 if not for inadequate type 1 diabetes care

So what should we call this – a grue jay?

Chicago Quantum Exchange-led coalition advances to final round in NSF Engine competition

Study identifies candidates for therapeutic targets in pediatric germ cell tumors

Media alert: The global burden of CVD

Study illuminates contributing factors to blood vessel leakage

What nations around the world can learn from Ukraine

Mixing tree species does not always make forests more drought-resilient

Public confidence in U.S. health agencies slides, fueled by declines among Democrats

“Quantum squeezing” a nanoscale particle for the first time

El Niño spurs extreme daily rain events despite drier monsoons in India

Two studies explore the genomic diversity of deadly mosquito vectors

Zebra finches categorize their vocal calls by meaning

Analysis challenges conventional wisdom about partisan support for US science funding

New model can accurately predict a forest’s future

‘Like talking on the telephone’: Quantum computing engineers get atoms chatting long distance

Genomic evolution of major malaria-transmitting mosquito species uncovered

Overcoming the barriers of hydrogen storage with a low-temperature hydrogen battery

Tuberculosis vulnerability of people with HIV: a viral protein implicated

Partnership with Kenya's Turkana community helps scientists discover genes involved in adaptation to desert living

Decoding the selfish gene, from evolutionary cheaters to disease control

[Press-News.org] Exact outline of melanoma could lead to new diagnostic tools, therapies