Human Genetic Variation Alters Anthrax Toxin Sensitivity
Martchenko, Candille et al., PNAS
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine show that genetic variation affecting capillary morphogenesis gene 2, or CMG2, dramatically alters toxin sensitivity in humans. In its analysis, the team reports on "a CMG2 single-nucleotide polymorphism occurring frequently in African and European populations [that they found] independently altered toxin uptake." The group goes on to suggest "testing of genomically characterized human cell populations may offer a broadly useful strategy for elucidating effects of genetic variation on infectious disease susceptibility."
Just Block This Right Here, Thanks
December 04, 2009
A hepatitis C drug from Santaris targeting a microRNA is now in the early stages of clinical testing, reports Technology Review. The drug, a synthetic nucleic acid, binds miR-122, which the hepatitis C virus needs to reproduce. "Whereas other chemistries invented in the last 20 years as a means to improve the [binding] properties of oligonucleotides [short strands of RNA or DNA] provide one degree of improved binding, locked nucleic acids provide five-fold to ten-fold improvement," Santaris's vice president and chief scientific officer, Henrik Orum, says. "It's really a quantum leap in affinity."