Med school discovery could lead to better cancer diagnosis, drugs

November 24, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A Florida State University College of Medicine research team led by Yanchang Wang has discovered an important new layer of regulation in the cell division cycle, which could lead to a greater understanding of the way cancer begins.

Wang, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences at the College of Medicine, said the findings will lead to an improved ability to diagnose cancer and could lead to the design of new drugs that kill cancer cells by inhibiting cell reproduction. His paper on the discovery has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The correct timing of chromosome segregation during cell division is necessary to ensure normal, healthy growth," Wang said. "Now we have discovered a previously undetected layer of regulation in how the chromosomes separate, which helps to ensure the correct timing and decreases the potential for the formation of cancerous growth."

The cell division cycle is a collection of tightly regulated events that lead to cell duplication. The most important events are the doubling of the hereditary information encoded within a set of chromosomes, and the division of that duplicated information into two daughter cells that are genetically identical to each other and the mother cell.

The correct order of cell-cycle events is essential for successful cell division. Wang's article addresses the role of a particular protein enzyme, Cdc14, in ensuring that cell division events occur in exactly the right order.

Defects in the regulation of the order of events can lead to cell death or the alteration of genetic information, which contributes to the formation of cancerous cells.

Florida State University

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	The Cell Cycle: Principles of Control (Primers in Biology) (Primers in Biology) by David O. Morgan (Author) The Cell Cycle is an account of the mechanisms that control cell division, beginning with a description of the phases and main events of the cell cycle and the main model organisms in cell-cycle analysis, including Xenopus, Drosophila, and yeasts. Later chapters focus on the molecules and mechanisms of the cell-cycle control system, including the cyclin-dependent kinase family of protein kinases, the cyclins that activate them, and the signaling molecules that regulate them, and discuss cell-cycle control in development and the failure of controls in cancer.
	Cell Division and Genetics (Cells and Life (2nd Edition)) by Robert Snedden (Author) This title explains what happens when cells divide. Cell division is the way in which organisms grow. Even when an organism is fully grown, some cells continue to divide to replace those that have become old or damaged. This book explores the complex relationship among chromosomes, genes, and DNA. It then examines the special form of cell division involved in reproduction, and how characteristics are passed on from one generation to another so that a pig gives birth to piglets and not kittens!
	Cell Specialization And Reproduction: Understanding How Cells Divide And Differentiate (The Library of Cells) by Amy Romano (Author) Explore how organisms grow and how specialized cells, tissues and organs develop. Includes in-depth coverage of cell processes with illustrations identifying key components of each cell at each stage. Presents concepts such as cell differentiation as well as the pros and cons of stem cell research and cloning.
	Dynamics of Cell Division (Frontiers in Molecular Biology) by Sharyn Endow (Editor), David Glover (Editor) This volume focuses on the structural aspects of cell division, ranging from nuclear envelope breakdown to cytokinesis and partitioning of the cytoplasm. It examines spindle assembly and chromosome behavior in mitosis and meiosis, centromere and kinetochore structure and regulation, telomeres, the role of centrosomes, and mechanisms by which overall regulation is achieved. Written as a companion volume to Cell Cycle Control, this book provides an up-to-date account of developments in this exciting area of cell biology.
	Synchrony in Cell Division and Growth by E. Zeuthen (Editor) This book has hardback covers.Ex-library,With usual stamps and markings,In fair condition, suitable as a study copy.No dust jacket.
	The Cell Division Cycle in Plants: Volume 26, The Cell Division Cycle in Plants (Society for Experimental Biology Seminar Series) by J. A. Bryant (Editor), D. Francis (Editor) First published in 1985, information is presented and summarised in this account of how plant cells divide. The chapters give information on control points in the cell cycle, on DNA replication and on the stages of cell and chloroplast division. The specialist authors together provide a general overview which will interest and inform all advanced students of the subject.
	Cell Division Control in Plants (Plant Cell Monographs) by Desh Pal S. Verma (Editor), Zonglie Hong (Editor) This volume examines the molecular basis of all aspects of cell division and cytokinesis in plants. It features 19 chapters contributed by world experts in the specific research fields, providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge on cell division control in plants. The editors are veterans in the field of plant molecular biology and highly respected worldwide.
	Mitosis: The movements of chromosomes in cell division (Columbia biological series) by Franz Schrader (Author)
	Population Balances in Biomedical Engineering: Segregation Through the Distribution of Cell States by Martin Hjortso (Author) The population balance modeling is a statistical approach for achieving accurate counts of any populations. It is an efficient way of counting traffic on roadways as well as to bacteria in lakes. In the biomedical world, it is used to count cell populations for the creation of biomaterials. Despite their undisputed accuracy, they have been underutilized for design and control purposes due to two main reasons: a) they are hard to solve and b) the functions that describe single-cell mechanisms and appear as parameters in these models are typically unknown.
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