Cancers are due to genetic aberrations in certain cells that gain the ability to divide indefinitely. This proliferation of sick cells generates tumors, which gradually invade healthy tissue. Therefore, current therapies essentially seek to destroy cancer cells to stop their proliferation. Through high-throughput genetic sequencing of glioblastoma cells, one of the most deadly brain tumors, a team of geneticists from the University of Geneva's (UNIGE) Faculty of Medicine discovered that some of these mutations are caused by supplemental extrachromosomal DNA fragments, called double minutes, which enable cancer cells to better adapt to their environment and therefore better resist to treatments meant to destroy them. The work is published in Nature Communications. Although scientists have known for about twenty years about double minutes, little chromosomal fragments which sometimes appear during cellular division, they have just started to understand their exact function. Due to replication errors, these mini-chromosomes lack centromere, which allows them to replicate extremely rapidly and autonomously. Scientists therefore suspect that they play a role in the development of cancers, diseases that are caused by mutations in genes that control cellular metabolism and development. Professor Stylianos Antonarakis and his team in the Genetic Medicine and Development Department of UNIGE's Faculty … Continue reading →

Stem Cell Therapy | stem cells osteoarthritis independent http://www.arthritistreatmentcenter.com On the flip side, another study refutes the study I commented on the other day regarding stem cells from osteoarthritis patients Chondrogenic Potential... By: Nathan Wei … Continue reading →