Posted on 08/12/2008 10:44:30 AM PDT by Schnucki
NEW treatments for leukemia and asthma are in development after scientists discovered a way to stop the production of malfunctioning blood cells. Researchers at the St Vincent's Institute in Melbourne and Hanson Institute in Adelaide have unravelled the structure of a protein in the blood control system that is key to some blood and inflammatory disorders.
Pharmaceutical company CSL will use the breakthrough to develop new treatments which stop the protein from being activated, hindering the spread of cancer.
Professor Michael Parker, of the St Vincent's Institute, said his team established the structure of a receptor that controls the actions of a blood-forming regulator called GM-CSF.
"This regulator has been of interest to researchers and clinicians for many years now because its controller or receptor, found on the surface of blood cells, is critical in regulating their many functions," Professor Parker said.
In leukemia, an excessive number of malfunctioning white blood cells are produced because some of the signals coming from the receptor are abnormal.
"Because our discovery shows precisely what the receptor looks like and also how it works, we can now begin to design new drugs to rein in the deadly abnormal blood cells," Professor Parker said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
that pingie thingie!
Folding ping
Good news. . .hope the ‘rest of the story’ is a timely one.
Can I have an 'Amen'?
Thanks for the ping.
So happy for this news.
I wish also there was a breakthrough for melanoma treatment.
Amen!
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