Cancer Research:Cancer cells poised for growth when opportunity knocks ♦ Researchers find experimental drug for ovarian cancer ♦ Small RNA has big impact on prostate cancer microRNA,

Researchers find experimental drug can help fight debilitating side effect of ovarian cancer Women who have ovarian cancer often develop a condition called ascites, which is a buildup of fluids in the abdomen. A drug that inhibits a receptor called the ’Colony Stimulating Factor 1 Receptor’ reduces ascites with minimal side effects.

Cancer cells poised for growth when opportunity knocks Researchers have identified a mechanism that allows cancer cells to respond and grow rapidly when levels of sugar in the blood rise. This may help to explain why people who develop conditions in which they have chronically high sugar levels in their blood, such as obesity, also have an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer.

Small RNA has big impact on prostate cancer microRNA, miR-124, reduced tumor growth and increased cell death in castration-resistant prostate cancer, new research concludes. This small RNA fragment hit multiple targets, reducing androgen receptor signaling and reviving the potency of enzalutamide, a treatment for advanced prostate cancer. In addition, miR-124 impeded EZH2 and Src, proteins that contribute to treatment resistance.

Metabolic profiles distinguish early stage ovarian cancer with unprecedented accuracy Studying blood serum compounds of different molecular weights has led scientists to a set of biomarkers that may enable development of a highly accurate screening test for early-stage ovarian cancer.

Health Research:New tool for investigating RNA gone awry ♦ Job strain linked to increased sick leave due to mental disorders ♦ Health researchers far behind industry using automation

Health researchers far behind industry using automation, leaves critical research unfunded The National Institutes of Health has experienced funding cuts even as the number of scientists has grown significantly. University laboratories are closing, faculty positions are being cut, less life-saving research is being conducted.

Job strain linked to increased sick leave due to mental disorders Workers with high job demands and job strain are at increased risk of sick leave due to mental disorders, reports a study. Risk was also increased for workers with job strain, defined as high job demands with low control; and "iso-strain," defined as high demands and low control plus low levels of social support at work.

Dignity in dementia: New research reveals the challenges of providing good nutrition in care homes Unexplained weight loss is often seen in people with dementia, which can lead to further complications, including mental and physical deterioration. New research has revealed the challenges of providing good nutrition and hydration in people with dementia who live in care homes.

Football helmet tests may not account for concussion-prone actions, study suggests Concussions in football are caused by the sudden rotation of the skull, mounting evidence suggests. Researchers now have evidence that suggests current football helmet tests don't account for these movements.

New tool for investigating RNA gone awry RNA is a fundamental ingredient in all known forms of life -- so when RNA goes awry, a lot can go wrong. A new technology offers the first real-time method to track and observe the dynamics of RNA distribution as it is transported inside living cells. 'Sticky-flares' have the potential to help scientists understand the complexities of RNA better than any analytical technique to date and observe and study the biological and medical significance of RNA misregulation.

Health Research: Over hydration potentially deadly for athletes ♦ Liver disease linked to drug metabolism ♦ DNA protection, inch by inch

DNA protection, inch by inch DNA within reproductive cells is protected through a clever system of find and destroy; new research lifts the veil on how this is done. A team of scientists has discovered how the cells produce tiny pieces of RNA -- called piRNA -- that identify and silence 'jumping genes' or transposons: genes that are able to change their position within the genome and therefore alter or disrupt the genetic code.

Liver disease linked to drug metabolism, research indicates Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an increasingly common but often undiagnosed liver disease, could have significant medical implications for people with type 2 diabetes, researchers have discovered.

Recruits show lower immunity levels to measles, mumps, rubella The percentage of U.S. Air Force recruits with detectable immunity to measles, mumps and rubella was lower than found in previous nationwide samples and may be low enough for outbreaks to occur.

It's Not What You Do, but How You Get Yourself to Exercise That Matters Developing any habit starts with a routine. The trick is making exercise a habit that is hard to break. A new study shows that may be easier to accomplish by focusing on cues that make going to the gym automatic.

Over hydration potentially deadly for athletes While the risks of dehydration are well known, new international guidelines seek to protect athletes from the serious health risks associated with drinking too many fluids while exercising -- potentially including death.

Brain Research: Calcium channel essential for deep sleep ♦ High blood pressure linked to reduced Alzheimer's risk ♦ Small RNAs found to play important roles in memory formation

High blood pressure linked to reduced Alzheimer's risk, meds may be reason People with a genetic predisposition to high blood pressure have a lower risk for Alzheimer's disease. However, authors conclude the connection may have more to do with anti-hypertension medication than high blood pressure itself.

Calcium channel essential for deep sleep identified A specific calcium channel plays a crucial role in deep, slow-wave sleep, scientists have discovered. This is a key step toward understanding both normal and abnormal waking brain functions.

Two techniques of temporal migraine surgery are 'equally effective' Two migraine surgery techniques targeting a specific "trigger site" are both highly effective in reducing the frequency and severity of migraine headaches, according to a randomized trial.

Patients with recurrent depression have smaller hippocampus The brains of people with recurrent depression have a significantly smaller hippocampus -- the part of the brain most associated with forming new memories.

Small RNAs found to play important roles in memory formation A type of genetic material called “microRNA” plays surprisingly different roles in the formation of memory in animal models, researchers have found. In some cases, these RNAs increase memory, while others decrease it.

Cancer Research:Small RNAs boosts cell proliferation in cancer ♦ Personalized colon cancer treatment ♦ Protein's impact on colorectal cancer

Braking mechanism identified for cell growth pathway linked to several cancers A self regulating loop in the Hippo pathway, a signaling channel garnering increased attention from cancer researchers due to its role in controlling organ size, cell proliferation and cell death.

New family of small RNAs boosts cell proliferation in cancer Rather than cellular trash, half of a transfer RNA (tRNA) molecule appears to actively spur cell proliferation in breast and prostate cancers, suggesting a new role for tRNA and a possible target for a new class of therapy.

Discovery could lead to personalized colon cancer treatment approach How a certain tumor-suppressing protein helps prevent colon cancer. With this discovery, researchers believe they’ve found a possible drug target for colon cancer patients who lack the tumor suppressor.

Does radiation from X-rays and CT scans really cause cancer? In recent years, there has been widespread media coverage of studies purporting to show that radiation from X-rays, CT scans and other medical imaging causes cancer. But such studies have serious flaws, including their reliance on an unproven statistical model, according to a recent article.

Protein's impact on colorectal cancer is dappled Researchers have discovered a cell signaling pathway that appears to exert some control over initiation and progression of colorectal cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. A key protein in the pathway also appears to be predictive of cancer survival rates.

Cancer Research:Higher risk for robotic prostate surgery patients ♦ Revealing breast cancer using nanoscale polymers ♦ RNA splicing machinery offers new drug target

Pactamycin analogs offer new, gentler approach to cancer treatment Researchers are pursuing a new concept in treatment of cancer, by using two promising 'analogs' of an old compound that was once studied as a potent anti-tumor agent, but long ago abandoned because it was too toxic. The idea put cancer cells to sleep - lessening problems with resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs, and also the side effects of chemotherapy.

Fee-for-service health care may lead to higher risk for robotic prostate surgery patients A 'perverse disincentive' for hospitals that have invested in expensive technology for robotic surgery may be jeopardizing prostate cancer patients who seek out the procedure.

Nerve involvement explains why some cancers are very painful More than half of all cancer patients experience pain, most often associated with the malignancy type, body location and disease progression. Pain researchers report that the relationship between tumors and nerves drives persistent and breakthrough pain and tumor progression in certain types of cancers

RNA splicing machinery offers new drug target A widespread cancer-causing protein called MYC promotes the growth of tumor cells in part by ensuring that RNA transcripts are properly spliced, according to new research. Drugs that block parts of the cell's splicing machinery may provide a new way to halt the proliferation of MYC-driven cancers.

Revealing breast cancer using nanoscale polymers A biocompatible polymer selectively targets and lights up cancer tumors for a noninvasive imaging system, investigator's report. Generating photoacoustic signals requires an ultrafast laser pulse to irradiate a small area of tissue. By 'listening' to the pressure differences created by the acoustic waves, researchers can reconstruct and visualize the inner structures of complex objects such as the brain and cardiovascular systems. Diagnosing cancer with photoacoustic imaging requires contrast agents that deeply penetrate tissue and selectively bind to malignant cells.

New insights into how DNA differences influence gene activity, disease susceptibility

• GTEx investigators reported initial findings from a two-year pilot study in several papers appearing online May 7, 2015, in Science and other journals. These efforts provide new insights into how genomic variants — inherited spelling differences in the DNA code — control how, when and how much genes are turned on and off in different tissues, and can predispose people to diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
• “GTEx was designed to sample as many tissues as possible from a large number of individuals in order to understand the causal effects of genes and variants, and which tissues contribute to predisposition to disease,” said Emmanouil Dermitzakis, Ph.D., professor of genetics at the University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine, Switzerland,. “The number of tissues examined in GTEx provides an unprecedented depth of genomic variation. It gives us unique insights into how people differ in gene expression in tissues and organs.”
• NIH launched the GTEx Project in 2010 to create a data resource and tissue bank for scientists to study how genomic variants may affect gene activity and disease susceptibility. Investigators are collecting more than 30 tissue types from autopsy and organ donations in addition to tissue transplant programs. The DNA and RNA from those samples are then analyzed using cutting-edge genomic methods. The project will eventually include tissue samples from about 900 deceased donors. GTEx is supported by the NIH Common Fund and administered by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), all part of NIH.
• In the main Science paper, researchers analyzed the gene activity readouts of more than 1,600 tissue samples collected from 175 individuals and 43 different tissues types. One way that researchers evaluate gene activity is to measure RNA, which is the readout from the genome’s DNA instructions. Investigators focused much of their analyses on samples from the nine most available tissue types: fat, heart, lung, skeletal muscle, skin, thyroid, blood, and tibial artery and nerve.
• The genomic blueprint of every cell is the same, but what makes a kidney cell different from a liver cell is the set of genes that are turned on (expressed) and off over time and the level at which those genes are expressed. GTEx investigators used a methodology — expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis — to gauge how variants affect gene expression activity. An eQTL is an association between a variant at a specific genomic location and the level of activity of a gene in a particular tissue. One of the goals of GTEx is to identify eQTLs for all genes and assess whether or not their effects are shared among multiple tissues.
• Investigators discovered a set of variants with common activity among the different tissue types. In fact, about half of the eQTLs for protein-coding genes were active in all nine tissues. They identified approximately 900 to 2,200 eQTL genes – genes linked to nearby genomic variants — for each of the nine tissues studied, and 6,486 eQTL genes across all the tissues. “We didn’t know how specific this regulation would be in different tissues,” said co-corresponding author Kristin Ardlie, Ph.D., who directs the GTEx Laboratory Data Analysis and Coordination Center at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “The analysis showed a large number of variants whose effects are common across tissues, and at the same time, there are subsets of variants whose effects are tissue-specific.”
• Comparing tissue-specific eQTLs with genetic disease associations might help provide insights into which tissues are the most relevant to a disease. The researchers also found a great deal of eQTL sharing among tissues, which can help explain how genomic variants affect the different tissues in which they are active.
• Even when active in multiple tissues, the same variant can sometimes have a different effect in different tissues. GTEx researchers found, for example, that a variant that affects the activity of two genes associated with blood pressure had a stronger effect on gene expression relevant to blood pressure in the tibial artery – even though there was greater overall gene activity in other tissues. They also noted that the same gene activity profiles characterizing tissues from living donors were seen in the GTEx samples from deceased donors.
• Two companion studies in Science used GTEx data to examine other aspects of gene activity in different tissues. One study characterized the effects of protein-truncating variants (PTVs) on gene activity. PTVs shorten the protein-coding sequence of genes, and affect their function. Some rare PTVs can lead to diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Each person’s genome carries about 100 PTVs, though most have little or no effect (and in some cases can even protect against disease).
• Manuel Rivas, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oxford, and his colleagues used GTEx data and information from a large European project to examine the gene readouts from more than 600 individuals. The team found PTVs that affect protein production either through the degradation of gene transcripts or by disrupting a process called splicing. In both cases, the researchers were able to use the GTEx data to measure these effects across individuals and tissue types. The group is now developing better methods for predicting the impact of PTVs identified in patients with diseases.
• In another companion study in Science, Roderic Guigo, Ph.D., coordinator for the Bioinformatics and Genomics Program at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues examined patterns in gene readouts across nearly 1,500 GTEx tissue samples. The researchers found that gene activity differed substantially more across tissues than across individuals.  
• Investigators discovered just under 2,000 genes that vary with age, including genes related to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. They also found more than 750 genes with differences in activity between men and women. Some genes are related to diseases with differences in prevalence between men and women, including five related to heart disease.

Cancer Research: Small RNA plays big role suppressing cancer ♦ Personalized melanoma vaccines ♦ New treatment options for colon cancer

Small RNA plays big role suppressing cancer The microRNA miR-22 has long been known for its ability to suppress cancer. However, questions remain about how it achieves this feat. For example, which molecules are regulating miR-22, and which are miR-22 targets? Researchers have unraveled some of these relationships, identifying several interactions that directly impact liver and colon cancer

Personalized melanoma vaccines marshal powerful immune response Personalized melanoma vaccines can be used to marshal a powerful immune response against unique mutations in patients' tumors, according to early data in a first-in-people clinical trial.

Body's cancer defenses hijacked to make pancreatic, lung cancers more aggressive A vital self-destruct switch in cells can be hijacked, making some pancreatic and non small cell lung cancers more aggressive, according to research. Researchers found that mutations in the KRAS gene interferes with protective self-destruct switches, known as TRAIL receptors, which usually help to kill potentially cancerous cells.

Dual therapy's 1-2 punch knocks out drug-resistant lung cancer Capitalizing on a rare opportunity to thoroughly analyze a tumor from a lung cancer patient who had developed resistance to targeted drug treatment, scientists identified a biological escape hatch that explains the resistance, and developed a strategy in mice for shutting it down

New treatment options for colon cancer An existing chemotherapy drug used to treat leukemia could prevent and control the growth of colorectal tumors, scientists have discovered