Regenerating Taste Buds
August 11, 2015 | Terry Sharrer
Catenin beta-1 is a protein with two roles—it functions is cell-to cell adhesion and in transcription of RNA to proteins. While its over-expression, especially in intestinal tissue, can cause adenomatous polyposis (an early step toward colon cancer), in normal expression it figures in many functions, as researchers at the University of Colorado-Denver have found with taste bud regeneration. Chemotherapy patients can lose their taste sensation. The challenge for drug developers and medical device makers is to find a way around the suppressing effects anticancer drugs have on Catenin beta-1. MORE
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