human biology

At the University of Cincinatti cancer cell biologists identified a gene that is linked to increase in lung cancer development.  By identifying this gene RGS17 scientists believe they could be useful in identifying high risk cancer patients who would benifit from an earlier lung cancer screeing.  This means identifying the people at risk before the disease progesses.  In addition, these  findings could change the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer patients.  The study team collected biological samples from families with 5 or more people affected by the disease.  This information was disected and analyzed in a process called “fine mapping”.  Researches show that the disease can occur sporadically or it can be heredity and occur in multiple members of a family.  Also, reasearch indicated  that enviornmental factors may lead to abnormal genetic development but further research needs to be done.

1. They talked about using this information for preventing lung cancer, how long do they think it will be before they figure out a way to do so?

2. Why do they think that enviornmental factors are involved in the development of lung cancer and what would they suggest to prevent enviornmental factors?

3. In what ways would the treatment of lung cancer change with this new information about the lung cancer gene?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090415141219.htm

In a study led by Evan Eichler at the University of Washington and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute discovered a long-defunct gene that has recently been resurected in humans.  The gene was an infection fighting IRGM and one of the only two of this type of gene remaining in humans.  This is the type of gene that helps mamals resist germs like tuberculosous and salmonella from invading cells.  Interest in this gene sparked when mutation of the gene was associated with Chron’s Disease.  It was found that most of this gene cluster was eliminated starting back 50 million years ago with primates.  Now, the gene is making a comeback and once again it was found and able to produce proteins.  This is the first evidence of a “doomed” gene comming back.  A gene shouldn’t be counted out until completly extinct.  Scientist believe this information will be useful in looking at the “plasticity in genes that experience pressure over time by evolution and the malleability for genes that fight against infectious agents.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090305204321.htm

Questions:

1.  This article left me with a main question of why do they think that this gene has resurrected? What about evolution or the enviornment has caused it to make this comeback?

2.  It says that this gene that has been resurrected is an infection fighting gene, so that leaves me with the question of if scientists think that it will be helping humans immunes systems and we will be fighting off more infectious agents and make us healthier?

Recently, scientist’s at the University of Wisconsin- Madison have grown working heart muscle cells from skin cells that were turned back into stem cells.  They are suggesting that these cells will be useful for research and therapy.  Since heart donors are scarce, scientists may be able to creat heart tissue from the patients skin cells in order to repair the heart muscle.  However, this is along time away still and methods need to be perfected.  There are possibilities that this method  could cause cancer in the future.  Luckily, many heart diseases have known causes.  Therefore creating heart muscle to help these diseases will be one of the next steps in their research.  Creating functional heart cells from these skin cells is also going to be useful in understanding and treatment of many diseases.  However, the process from skin cells to stem cells to heart cells can get complicated, has proven a success so far.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090212161808.htm

Questions:

1. In what ways exactly will they be using their current findings now and how long until they think that it will be ready to be used on patients.

2. What types of diseases do they predict this heart muscle will be able to help.

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