Medicine

UCLA researchers have pinpointed the culprit behind chronic rejection of heart, lung and kidney transplants. Published in the Nov. 23 edition of Science Signaling, their findings suggest new therapeutic approaches for preventing transplant rejection and sabotaging cancer growth.

The team focused on the mechanism behind narrowing of the donor’s grafted blood vessels, which blocks blood from reaching the transplanted organ. Starved of oxygen and other nutrients, the organ eventually fails, forcing the patient back on the transplant waiting list.

Some disorders of the brain are obvious — the massive death of brain cells after a stroke, the explosion in the growth of cells that marks a tumor. Other disorders, such as autism, schizophrenia and mental retardation show no physical signs of damage and are believed to be caused by problems in how brain cells communicate with one another.

A protein that is crucial for regulating the self-renewal of normal prostate stem cells, which are needed to repair injured cells or restore normal cells killed by hormone-withdrawal therapy for cancer, also aids the transformation of healthy cells into prostate cancer cells, researchers at UCLA have found.

The findings, by scientists with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, may have important implications for controlling cancer growth and progression.

Gene therapy holds the promise for curing a variety of diseases, including cancer, and nanoparticles have been recognized as promising vehicles for effective and safe delivery of genes into specific type of cells or tissues. This can provide an alternative gene manipulation and/or therapy strategy to the conventional approaches that use viruses.

How Tiny Nanoparticles Are Transforming Technology

From cancer treatments to self-cleaning windows and clear solar panels, nanotechnology is revolutionizing medicine, renewable energy and computing. Chemists Mark Ratner and James Gimzewski discuss what's special about nanoscale particles, and how they may shape the future.

Click here to listen online