mRNA tagged posts

Cancer cells proliferate despite a myriad of stresses — from oxygen deprivation to chemotherapy — that would kill any ordinary cell. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have gained insight into how they may be doing this through the downstream activity of a powerful estrogen receptor. The discovery offers clues to overcoming resistance to therapies like tamoxifen that are used in many types of breast cancer.

Estrogen receptor α (ERα) drives more than 70 percent of breast cancers. The new research published Sept...

Researchers from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have discovered a new function of ribosomes in human cells that may show the protein-making particle’s role in destroying healthy mRNAs, the messages that decode DNA into protein.

“For a long time, many people have viewed ribosomes as a passive player in the cell – a molecular machine that’s just producing proteins,” says Stowers Assistant Investigator Ariel Bazzini, PhD. “Now there’s growing evidence that ribosomes regulate gene expression, including in human cells.”

These findings, which were rece...

Patients with lung disease could find relief by breathing in messenger RNA molecules. In an advance that could lead to new treatments for lung disease, researchers have now designed an inhalable form of mRNA. This aerosol could be administered directly to the lungs to help treat diseases such as cystic fibrosis, the researchers say.

mRNA, which can induce cells to produce therapeutic proteins, holds great promise for treating a variety of diseases...

Comparison of microRNA extraction using nanowires versus conventional collection (a) Scatterplot comparing normalized intensities of microRNAs extracted with the nanowire device versus conventional collection by ultracentrifugation. (b) Histogram showing the frequency of microRNA species at different fluorescent intensities collected by nanowires (red) and ultracentrifugation (blue). Both the scatterplot and histogram analyses show a notably greater abundance of extracted microRNAs using the nanowire technology. © Takao Yasui

Cells communicate with each other through a number of different mechanisms...