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Is this why women are more likely to get arthritis? Scientists have identified a ‘master switch’ gene that causes their immune system to attack itself

  Some 8 out of 10 cases of autoimmune diseases are believed to affect women Researchers have pinpointed the key gene that controls their immune system Called VGLL3 – it regulates cells and could pave a way for a drug that targets it A ‘master switch’ that makes women more prone to arthritis has been...

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Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Spontaneously Make Cartilage After Blockage of VEGF Signaling

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be induced to make cartilage by incubating the cells with particular growth factors.  Unfortunately, batches of MSCs show respectable variability from patient-to-patient.  Therefore the growth factor-dependent method suffers from poor efficacy, limited reproducibility from batch-to-batch, and the cell types that are induced are not always terribly stable.  Finding a better...

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Controlling CRISPR: Researchers May Have Found An “Off-Switch” for Gene-Editing

IN BRIEF Researchers have uncovered two distinct anti-CRISPR proteins — AcrIIA2 and AcrIIA4 — that worked to inhibit the ability of SpyCas9 to target specific genomes in bacteria. The discovery could lead to an “off switch” for CRISPR that would give scientists greater control over the gene editing tool when using it in human subjects....

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Could new bone-forming growth factor reverse osteoporosis?

Scientists at the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern in Dallas, TX, have uncovered a new bone-forming growth factor that may reverse the bone loss associated with osteoporosis. They say that this discovery has implications for regenerative medicine. Osteolectin has been shown to promote bone growth in postmenopausal mice.   Osteoporosis develops over several...

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Promising Study Results for Diabetic Kidney Disease Seen with Mesoblast’s Cell Therapy

Mesoblast recently announced positive results from the placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial of its cell therapy MPC-300-IV for diabetic kidney disease patients. All results can be found in the paper “Allogeneic Mesenchymal Precursor Cells (MPC) in Diabetic Nephropathy: A Randomized, Placebo Controlled, Dose Escalation Study,” published in the journal EBioMedicine. The clinical trial, conducted by researchers at the University...

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Want to improve your memory? Then go for a morning jog: Running stimulates your brain and also helps to keep you alert

  Part of the brain responsible for alertness is activated during a run, a study found New research also found it helped to improve the senses, like playing the piano Scientists studied 11 runners as well as 11 inactive men to examine brain activity  Going for an early morning run could help to keep you...

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Key regulator of bone development identified

Summary: Loss of a key protein has been discovered as the event that leads to defects in skeletal development, including reduced bone density and a shortening of the fingers and toes — a new potential target for the diagnosis and treatment of bone diseases such as osteoporosis. Loss of a key protein leads to defects...