An immune portal
Article Abstract:
A study conducted about two Turkish brothers born with severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome, or SCIDS, a rare, life-threatening genetic disease characterized by a seriously debilitated immune system as the boys' T cells could not take up calcium is presented. The search ended with the discovery of Orai 1, a protein that might be part of the ion channel that admits calcium into T cells, a step required to set the body's immune response in motion.
Publication Name: Scientific American
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8733
Year: 2006
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Mapping the cancer genome
Article Abstract:
The changes in the structure or activity of genes and also the identification of genes involved in certain cancers might help in charting the malignant behavior of cancer cells. The National Institutes of Health's The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a novel initiative to identify all the genetic alterations in different forms of cancer so that gene changes driving the disease can be targeted directly.
Publication Name: Scientific American
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8733
Year: 2007
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Chemo control
Article Abstract:
Researchers are developing drugs which target epigenetic changes in cancer cells which might help in reducing some cancers to a chronic state as certain type of cancers were found to be caused by epigenetic factors. They are trying to identify the abnormalities tied to tumor growth by comparing the epigenetic patterns of cancerous cells with those of healthy cells.
Publication Name: Scientific American
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8733
Year: 2007
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