Why do BRCA1 mutations cause predominantly breast and ovarian cancer?

20-Jul-2017 - The human body holds many mysteries, and function of the BRCA1 gene is among them. Women who inherit a faulty copy of BRCA1 have up to a 65 percent chance to develop breast cancer by age 70. They also have up to a 39 percent chance to develop ovarian cancer. Rong Li, Ph.D., and colleagues at The ...

Diabetes cured in mice without side effects

09-May-2017 - A potential cure for Type 1 diabetes looms on the horizon in San Antonio, and the novel approach would also allow Type 2 diabetics to stop insulin shots. The discovery, made at The University of Texas Health Science Center, now called UT Health San Antonio, increases the types of pancreatic cells ...

Study describes drug that could prevent infertility in cancer patients

13-Feb-2017 - A new study led by Brian Hermann, assistant professor of biology at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), shows promising evidence that a medication previously used to prevent infections in cancer patients can also keep them from becoming infertile. Losing fertility is a frequent problem ...

Microscopic collisions help proteins stay healthy

Heat shock proteins ram into other proteins, generating force that is beneficial

11-Aug-2016 - Studies at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio are providing basic new understanding about "heat shock proteins," also called "chaperone proteins." These proteins, first identified in cells subjected to heat, are very important under many stressful and non-stressful ...

PTSD linked to low levels of fat hormone

13-May-2016 - Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relive past traumas again and again, bound in a virtual prison of their memories. Researchers in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio now report a biological mechanism that might explain why ...

Mesh-like scaffold is disordered in Alzheimer's-affected cells

08-Feb-2016 - Brain cell death in Alzheimer's disease is linked to disruption of a skeleton that surrounds the nucleus of the cells, a researcher in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio said. The finding is expected to open new avenues of study of how to ...

Research shows a cause of gastrointestinal symptoms in Type 1 diabetes

Excess of growth factor binding protein damages colon-maintaining stem cells

05-Oct-2015 - Research provides a molecular basis for why 80 percent of patients with longstanding Type 1 diabetes have chronic gastrointestinal symptoms including gastroparesis (delayed emptying of food), irritable bowel syndrome, abdominal distension and fecal incontinence, significantly reducing their ...

Scientists ID a protein that splices and dices genes

08-Feb-2010 - A novel finding by teams from the National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of Toronto, offers a clue as to how genes can have what you might call multiple personalities. The discovery reveals that the protein MRG15, which ...