RNA interference (RNAi) is a naturally occurring cellular post-transcriptional gene regulation process that utilizes small double-stranded RNAs to trigger and guide gene silencing. By introducing synthetic RNA duplexes called small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs), we can harness the RNAi machinery for therapeutic gene control and the treatment of various diseases.
Nitric oxide (NO) has a broad spectrum of actions in physiological and pathological processes. NO-donor drugs have shown therapeutic effect in several cancer types by inducing apoptosis but the concentrations required have suggested limited clinical applicability. For cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer where most therapies are not curative, there remains a need for effective treatments.
A number of factors can play a detrimental role in the process of wound healing such as poor nutritional status, smoking, various drugs, cancer, and diabetes. Wound healing impairment is a challenging clinical problem with no efficacious treatments currently available. Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to play a role in the process of wound healing by promoting both the proliferative and remodeling phases of healing.
The promise of RNA interference based therapeutics is made evident by the recent surge of biotechnological drug companies that pursue such therapies and their progression into human clinical trials. The present invention discloses novel RNA and RNA/DNA nanoparticles including multiple siRNAs, RNA aptamers, fluorescent dyes, and proteins. These RNA nanoparticles are useful for various nanotechnological applications.
KRAS and other Ras-family enzymes are an important component of over 30% of human cancers, however, no effective therapeutics targeting Ras or Ras-driven cancers are currently available. The production of Ras proteins in vitro is required for the identification and characterization of Ras targeting drugs. An important step in producing the Ras protein involves prenylation of the C-terminus of the protein via farnesyltransferase, a modification that does not occur in prokaryotic organisms. Previous attempts to generate properly processed Ras in eukaryotic cells has
Poly-ADP ribose polymerase-1 (PARP-1) is a critical enzyme involved in DNA repair. The inhibition of PARP has emerged as a promising strategy in cancer therapy. Numerous PARP inhibitors have been developed and advanced into clinical trials, both for use as single agents in specific patient populations and as combination therapies with various chemotherapeutics. The induction of strand break damage to DNA, as has been demonstrated in cancer cells treated with O2-arylated diazeniumdiolates, coupled with inhibition of DNA repair by PARP inhibitors, represents a novel rational
The successful development of new cancer therapeutics requires reliable preclinical data that are obtained from mouse models for cancer. Human tumor xenografts, which require transplantation of human tumor cells into an immune compromised mouse, represent the current standard mouse model for cancer. Since the immune system plays an important role in tumor growth, progression and metastasis, the current standard mouse model is not ideal for accurate prediction of therapeutic effectiveness in patients.
Current treatments for cancer and viral infection are limited remedies that often suppress cell or viral replication rather than eliminate diseased cells entirely from the body. A further limitation is that these therapies often compromise healthy cells as well, leaving problems of recurrence and side effects.
Researchers at developed a novel therapeutic nanoparticle (NP) system harboring therapeutic small siRNA that can significantly enhance effectiveness and specificity of treatments by killing diseased cells.
Available for commercial development is software that provides automatic visualization of features inside biological image volumes in 3D. The software provides a simple and interactive visualization for the exploration of biological datasets through dataset-specific transfer functions and direct volume rendering. The method employs a K-Means++ clustering algorithm to classify a two-dimensional histogram created from the input volume. The classification process utilizes spatial and data properties from the volume.
Exposure to ionizing radiation or agents that induce DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs), which is one of the most damaging types of lesions in DNA, can result in damage to cells and/or tissues. Thiscan lead to illness (i.e., Acute Radiation Syndrome, Cancer) or death. Identifying the amount of exposure to a DNA DSB-causing agent can be useful in determining the need for further testing, avoidance or modification of certain medical procedures, and/or types of medical treatments.