Study shows how mutant protein clusters drive disease-causing aggregates
A mutation that replaces a single amino acid in a potent tumor-suppressing protein turns it from saint to sinister. A new study by a coalition of Texas institutions shows why that is more damaging than previously known.
The ubiquitous p53 protein in its natural state, sometimes called “the guardian of the genome,” is a front-line protector against cancer. But the mutant form appears in 50% or more of human cancers and actively blocks cancer suppressors.
Researchers led by Peter Vekilov at the University of Houston (UH) and Anatoly Kolomeisky at Rice University have discovered the same mutant protein can aggregate into clusters. These in turn nucleate the formation of amyloid fibrils, a prime suspect in cancers as well as neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s.
How Texas winter storm could affect 2021 bluebonnets and wildflowers Bluebonnets should be coming back this year. Hope sprung up for an early and abundant wildflower season around Texas when the first beloved bluebonnets of 2021 surprised Houston in January. By mid-February, hope froze to death with the rest of the state. Now that Texas has thawed out and we re back to shorts-weather, the question on every wildflower watcher’s mind is: What ll happen with our bluebonnets? The answer, Texas horticulture experts say, is hard to pinpoint because Winter Storm Uri was such an extreme and unusual weather event. But Texans needn t worry. The state flower is still going to blanket fields, parks, and roadsides this year. We ll just need to be patient, experts say, because their grand entrance could be delayed.
Study Shows Simple Blood Test Could Detect Liver Injury Earlier utdallas.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from utdallas.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
E-Mail
A study led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reveals a novel role of the steroid receptor coactivator 3 (SRC-3/NCOA3), a protein crucial for steroid hormone function and a prognostic marker for aggressive human breast and other cancers.
The team discovered that SRC-3 also regulates human immune T regulatory cells (Tregs), which contribute to the regulation of the body s immunological activity by suppressing the function of other immune cells, including those involved in fighting cancer. The study, which appears in the journal
Scientific Reports, shows that Tregs whose SRC-3 function was eliminated failed to suppress the activity of other immune cells in the lab. The authors anticipate that their findings may help in the fight against cancer in the future by leading to new approaches to inhibit Tregs activity which consequently would release immune attack in tumors.
E-Mail
Many cognitive neurodevelopmental disorders are a result of too many or too few copies of certain genes or chromosomes. To date, no treatment options exist for this class of disorders. MECP2 duplication syndrome (MDS) is one such disorder that primarily affects boys and results from a duplication spanning the methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2) locus located on the X chromosome.
A preclinical study published from the laboratory of Dr. Huda Zoghbi, professor at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children s Hospital, provides experimental evidence that supports the use of antisense oligonucleotides as a feasible strategy to treat MDS. The study also offers crucial insights into the pharmacodynamics of this approach, which will serve as an important guide for the design and implementation of future clinical trials for this disorder. The study appears in the journal