Medical research

Study confirms how RNA chemical modifications benefit HIV-1

A chemical modification in the HIV-1 RNA genome whose function has been a matter of scientific debate is now confirmed to be key to the virus's ability to survive and thrive after infecting host cells, a new study has found.

Oncology & Cancer

Impact of epigenetics on the clinical management of cancer patients

In the early 1980s, the first changes in DNA related to a chemical modification called methylation were discovered, followed by the discovery in the mid-1990s of the first tumor suppressor genes inactivated by these modifications ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

RNA modification may protect against liver disease

A chemical modification that occurs in some RNA molecules as they carry genetic instructions from DNA to cells' protein-making machinery may offer protection against non-alcoholic fatty liver, a condition that results from ...

Medical research

More potent, inexpensive gene silencing agents described

Combining the therapeutic potential and advantages of existing oligonucleotide-based approaches to turn off disease-related genes, a type of single-stranded silencing RNAs (ss-siRNAs) has shown significantly improved potency ...

Immunology

Neurogenesis—discovery of a new regulatory mechanism

Bassem Hassan's team at VIB/KU Leuven has discovered a previously unknown mechanism that is highly conserved between species and which regulates neurogenesis through precise temporal control of the activity of a family of ...

Genetics

Researchers identify another piece of the 'histone code' puzzle

(Medical Xpress)—DNA is often called the blueprint of life, but the four-letter combinations that make up the genetic code are just part of the story. Built upon the DNA lies additional epigenetic information in the form ...

page 1 from 2