September 16, 2014 John Hopton for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online A study of more than 87,000 individuals of European, African, Japanese and Latino ancestry has revealed 23 new genetic susceptibility locations indicating risk of prostate cancer, contributing to greater knowledge and hope for future prevention of the disease. The study, co-led by Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC), and scientists and researchers in the United Kingdom, is the largest of its kind and the first to combine multiple studies across different ethnic populations. It adds to previous research on prostate cancer which is, according to the American Cancer Society, the second most common cancer among American men behind skin cancer. It is estimated that in 2014 almost 30,000 men will die of prostate cancer and more than 233,000 new cases will be diagnosed. The goal of this research is to identify regions of the genome that contribute susceptibility to prostate cancer that could be used for understanding a mans future risk of developing this disease, said principal investigator Christopher Haiman, Sc.D., professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine. The 23 new common genetic variants are added to those previously identified to bring the total … Continue reading →

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online Schizophrenia is not a single disease, but a group of eight genetically distinct disorders each with its own unique set of symptoms, according to new research published online Monday in The American Journal of Psychiatry. Dr. C. Robert Cloninger, one of the senior investigators of the study as well as a professor of psychiatry and genetics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and his colleagues believe their findings could be the first step towards improving how the condition is diagnosed and treated. According to the researchers, approximately 80 percent of schizophrenia risk is inherited, but scientists have struggled to identify the exact genes responsible for the debilitating psychiatric illness. Now, after conducting detailed analysis of genetic influences on over 4,000 people with schizophrenia, the study authors have identified distinct gene clusters which they said contribute to eight different classes of the disorder. Genes dont operate by themselves. They function in concert much like an orchestra, and to understand how theyre working, you have to know not just who the members of the orchestra are but how they interact, Dr. Cloninger, whose team matched precise DNA variations in people with … Continue reading →

8 hours ago Stem cells. Credit: Nissim Benvenisty - Wikipedia Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a new cocktail that is highly effective at coaxing adult cells to become quality pluripotent stem cells. Regenerative medicine is a new and expanding area that aims to replace lost or damaged cells, tissues or organs through cellular transplantation. Because stem cells derived from human embryos can trigger ethical concerns, a good solution is reprogramming adult cells back to an embryo-like state using a combination of reprogramming factors. The resulting cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), could be used to replace those lost to damage or disease. However, scientists have discovered that the process of reprogramming adult cells can introduce genetic abnormalities that limit the cells' usefulness in research and medicine. To make iPSCs, scientists expose adult cells to a cocktail of genes that are active in embryonic stem cells. iPSCs can then be coaxed to differentiate into other cell types such as nerve or muscle. However, the standard combination of factors used to reprogram cells leads to a high percentage of serious genomic aberrations in the resulting cells. (The reprogramming factors are Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and Mycknown collectively as … Continue reading →