Geneticists have recognized for some time that many genes exhibit pleiotropy, meaning that one mutation can manifest in two or more distinguishable phenotypic effects. In a fascinating study recently published in Science [2014 Jan 10;343(6167):152-7....
Currently, I am on vacation near the beach in South Carolina. Consequently, I have opted for a topic that is bit different than the majority of my monthly commentaries in that it focuses not on a recent original report but instead on a conceptual point made in a book...
An interesting hypothesis in the evolutionary genetics of treating infections and cancers is that if the therapeutic agent does not directly target the pathogen or tumor, then the pathogen or tumor will be less likely to evolve resistance to that agent. While...
Arguably, the most exciting trend of the last decade in chemotherapy for tumors based on traditional small molecule agents is the use of drugs that target specific protein kinases that participate in signaling pathways crucial for tumor growth (Solit and Sawyers,...
In a couple of previous posts I wrote about investigators who harnessed concepts derived from the study of evolution to generate therapeutic agents, in one case for a viral infection (2009a) and in another case for cancer (2009b). Below, I discuss a study from 2009...
