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

UC Irvine-Italian researchers create first inhibitor for enzyme linked to cancers

Novel compound seen as enhancing the cancer-killing power of anti-tumoral drugs

UC Irvine-Italian researchers create first inhibitor for enzyme linked to cancers
2014-11-20
(Press-News.org) Irvine, Calif., Nov. 20, 2014 -- Recent studies showing acid ceramidase (AC) to be upregulated in melanoma, lung and prostate cancers have made the enzyme a desired target for novel synthetic inhibitor compounds. This week in Angewandte Chemie, a top journal in chemistry, UC Irvine and Italian Institute of Technology scientists describe the very first class of AC inhibitors that may aid in the efficacy of chemotherapies.

AC, which is encoded by the ASAH1 gene, plays an important role in the regulation of cell fate, setting the balance between pro-aging/death and pro-life signals. Mutations in the ASAH1 gene have been associated with a lysosomal storage disorder called Farber disease and with spinal muscular atrophy.

In their Angewandte Chemie study, Daniele Piomelli - the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in the Neurosciences at UCI - and colleagues present a potent and systematically active small-molecule inhibitor of intracellular AC. In in vivo studies, the team found that inhibiting AC with their novel compound tilts the balance between pro-aging/death and pro-life chemical signals, favoring the former at the expenses of the latter.

"We hope that AC inhibitors may be one day used as 'chemosensitizers' - drugs that enhance the cancer-killing power of anti-tumoral drugs," said Piomelli, who is also affiliated with UCI's Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The new chemical scaffold we published is a promising starting point for the development of novel therapeutic agents, and we aim to pursue its further pharmaceutical development."

INFORMATION:

Daniela Pizzirani, Anders Bach, Natalia Realini, Andrea Armirotti, Luisa Mengatto, Inga Bauer, Stefania Girotto, Chiara Pagliuca, Marco De Vivo, Maria Summa, Alison Ribeiro of the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa contributed to the research, which received support from the Carlsberg Foundation. UCI and the Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia have filed for patent protection of the new class of molecules.


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
UC Irvine-Italian researchers create first inhibitor for enzyme linked to cancers

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Cost of meeting basic needs rising faster than wages in Washington state

2014-11-20
A Washington family of four must spend 46 percent more on average to make ends meet today than 13 years ago, according to a new report from the University of Washington. The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Washington State 2014, released Thursday (Nov. 20), provides a sobering look at how much it costs individuals and families statewide to meet basic needs -- and how far short they're falling. The study found that Washington families with two adults, a preschooler and a school-aged child saw the costs of meeting their most basic requirements jump as much as 72 percent ...

Discovery sheds light on nuclear reactor fuel behavior during a severe event

2014-11-20
A new discovery about the atomic structure of uranium dioxide will help scientists select the best computational model to simulate severe nuclear reactor accidents. Using the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility, researchers from DOE's Argonne National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory, along with Materials Development, Inc., Stony Brook University, and Carnegie Institution of Washington, found that the atomic structure of uranium dioxide (UO2) changes significantly when it melts. UO2 is the primary ...

Economic burden of prediabetes up 74 percent over five years

2014-11-20
The economic burden of diabetes in America continues to climb, exceeding more than $322 billion in excess medical costs and lost productivity in 2012, or more than $1,000 for every American, according to a study being published in the December issue of Diabetes Care that also includes a state-by-state breakdown of the prevalence and costs associated with diabetes. Additionally, increased costs associated with prediabetes and undiagnosed diabetes highlight the growing importance of prevention and early intervention. The study, which follows up on a similar report published ...

Moffitt researchers use evolutionary principles to model cancer mutations

2014-11-20
TAMPA, Fla. - Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are taking a unique approach to understanding and investigating cancer by utilizing evolutionary principles and computational modeling to examine the role of specific genetic mutations in the Darwinian struggle among tumor and normal cells during cancer growth. Cells become malignant by acquiring genetic mutations that lead to increased survival and reproduction. Many researchers in the past have viewed cancer progression as the result of unlimited accumulation of these genetic mutations. However, Moffitt researchers ...

Study: Obesity fuels silent heart damage

2014-11-20
Fast facts: The study shows that obesity leads to subclinical heart muscle injury and increases the risk for heart failure even among people without overt heart disease and independently of other cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The silent heart damage was detected by using an ultrasensitive test that measures the levels of a protein released by the cells of the heart muscle during injury. The findings suggest that obesity is an independent driver of heart muscle damage, and that obese individuals, even when free ...

Mass. General-developed system reveals how our brains and bodies change as we fall asleep

Mass. General-developed system reveals how our brains and bodies change as we fall asleep
2014-11-20
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have developed a system to accurately track the dynamic process of falling asleep, something has not been possible with existing techniques. In their report in the October issue of the open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology, the research team describes how combining key physiologic measurements with a behavioral task that does not interfere with sleep onset gives a better picture of the gradual process of falling asleep. In addition to being a powerful tool for future research, the system could provide valuable ...

Deep-earth carbon offers clues on origin of life on Earth

2014-11-20
New findings by a Johns Hopkins University-led team reveal long unknown details about carbon deep beneath the Earth's surface and suggest ways this subterranean carbon might have influenced the history of life on the planet. The team also developed a new, related theory about how diamonds form in the Earth's mantle. For decades scientists have had little understanding of how carbon behaved deep below the Earth's surface even as they learned more and more about the element's vital role at the planet's crust. Using a model created by Johns Hopkins geochemist Dimitri ...

A global report card: Are children better off than they were 25 years ago?

2014-11-20
Twenty-five years ago this month, the countries that compose the United Nations reached a landmark agreement that laid the foundation for much-needed strengthening of children's rights and protections in nearly every country around the world. Today, the Convention on the Rights of the Child remains the only formal global effort to improve children's rights and the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. Only three U.N. member nations have not ratified the treaty: Somalia, South Sudan and the United States. "The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a ...

An Ebola virus protein can cause massive inflammation and leaky blood vessels

An Ebola virus protein can cause massive inflammation and leaky blood vessels
2014-11-20
Ebola GP protein covers the virus' surface and is shed from infected cells during infection. A study published on November 20th in PLOS Pathogens reports that shed GP can trigger massive dysregulation of the immune response and affect the permeability of blood vessels Ebola virus has seven genes. One of them, called GP, codes for two related proteins: a shorter secreted one and a longer one that spans the viral wall and sticks out of its surface. During virus infection, some of the surface GP is cut off by a human enzyme and is subsequently shed from infected cells. High ...

Epidemic spreading and neurodegenerative progression

Epidemic spreading and neurodegenerative progression
2014-11-20
Researchers from the Montreal Neurological Institute have used a model inspired by patterns of epidemic disease spreading to map how misfolded proteins propagate within the brain. Proteins which fail to configure correctly (misfolded proteins) are associated with aging and several human neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's. In research published in this week's PLOS Computational Biology, Yasser Iturria Medina and colleagues analyze over 700 individual Amyloid-beta proteins imaging datasets to conclude that the propagation of these misfolded proteins, associated ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Scientists unlock secrets behind flowering of the king of fruits

Texas A&M researchers illuminate the mysteries of icy ocean worlds

Prosthetic material could help reduce infections from intravenous catheters

Can the heart heal itself? New study says it can

Microscopic discovery in cancer cells could have a big impact

Rice researchers take ‘significant leap forward’ with quantum simulation of molecular electron transfer

Breakthrough new material brings affordable, sustainable future within grasp

How everyday activities inside your home can generate energy

Inequality weakens local governance and public satisfaction, study finds

Uncovering key molecular factors behind malaria’s deadliest strain

UC Davis researchers help decode the cause of aggressive breast cancer in women of color

Researchers discovered replication hubs for human norovirus

SNU researchers develop the world’s most sensitive flexible strain sensor

Tiny, wireless antennas use light to monitor cellular communication

Neutrality has played a pivotal, but under-examined, role in international relations, new research shows

Study reveals right whales live 130 years — or more

Researchers reveal how human eyelashes promote water drainage

Pollinators most vulnerable to rising global temperatures are flies, study shows

DFG to fund eight new research units

Modern AI systems have achieved Turing's vision, but not exactly how he hoped

Quantum walk computing unlocks new potential in quantum science and technology

Construction materials and household items are a part of a long-term carbon sink called the “technosphere”

First demonstration of quantum teleportation over busy Internet cables

Disparities and gaps in breast cancer screening for women ages 40 to 49

US tobacco 21 policies and potential mortality reductions by state

AI-driven approach reveals hidden hazards of chemical mixtures in rivers

Older age linked to increased complications after breast reconstruction

ESA and NASA satellites deliver first joint picture of Greenland Ice Sheet melting

Early detection model for pancreatic necrosis improves patient outcomes

Poor vascular health accelerates brain ageing

[Press-News.org] UC Irvine-Italian researchers create first inhibitor for enzyme linked to cancers
Novel compound seen as enhancing the cancer-killing power of anti-tumoral drugs