Danish researchers have discovered a previously unknown function in histones -- responsible for packaging the DNA into structural units -- that will help improve understanding of how cells protect and repair DNA damage.

"I believe that there's a lot of work ahead. It's like opening a door onto a previously undiscovered territory filled with lots of exciting knowledge. The histones are incredibly important to many of the cells' processes as well as their overall wellbeing," said study author Niels Mailand from the University of Copenhagen's Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Protein Research.

This new discovery may be of great importance to the treatment of diseases caused by cellular changes such as cancer and immune deficiency syndrome.

Histones enable the tight packaging of DNA strands within cells. There are five types of histones - four of them are the so-called core histones that have been well described in earlier studies and the fifth histone, Histone H1, which has not been thoroughly examined.

In addition to enabling the packaging of the DNA strands, histones also play a central part in practically every process related to the DNA code, including repairing possibly damaged DNA.

"In international research, the primary focus has been on the core histones and their functionality, whereas little attention has been paid to the H1 histone, simply because we weren't aware that it too influenced the repair process."

"Having discovered this function in H1 constitutes an important piece of the puzzle of how cells protect their DNA, and it opens a door onto hitherto unknown and highly interesting territory," Mailand said.

He expects the discovery to lead to increased research into Histone H1 worldwide, which will lead to increased knowledge of cells' abilities to repair possible damage to their DNA and thus increase our knowledge of the basis for diseases caused by cellular changes.

The findings were published in the latest issue of scientific journal Nature.

A new study has highlighted the poor levels of use, availability and affordability of vital heart medicines.

The research shows that the use of vital life-saving generic (and supposedly inexpensive) medicines for prevention in people with existing heart disease is poor worldwide. In low-income and middle-income countries these medicines are not widely available and, when available, can often be unaffordable.

In rich countries, although such medicines are both available and affordable, 35 percent to 50 percent of patients who have heart disease or a previous stroke still do not receive them.

The authors say that a radical shift in how such medicines are provided, and how preventive care is organised in health care systems, is required. For example, provision of generic versions free of charge in developing countries and provision of medicines by non-physician health workers in all countries are needed to improve rates of use of these medicines, even in the richest countries.

The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study analysed data from 18 countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed that medicines to prevent recurrent cardiovascular disease, including aspirin, Beta blockers, angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and statins--be available in 80 percent of communities and used by 50 percent of eligible individuals by 2025. The team of researchers assesd how such low use relates to lack of medicine availability and/or affordability.

They analysed information about availability and costs of cardiovascular disease medicines in pharmacies gathered from 596 communities in 18 countries participating in the PURE study, covering the period 2003-13. Medicines were considered available if present at the pharmacy when surveyed, and affordable if their combined cost was less than 20% of household capacity to pay.

The authors said that given the very large effects of the availability and affordability of medicines on use that they noted, availability and affordability are likely to be essential factors influencing medicine use, unless both availability and affordability of these medicines are improved, their use is likely to remain low in most of the world.

They concluded that further research is needed into the development of national regulatory mechanisms for drug pricing, to achieve prices that are closer to drug production costs. So far, mass antiretroviral treatment for HIV is the one success story. Universal access to medicines will be accelerated through increased health financing and greater availability of low cost medicines targeting major diseases among people with low incomes.

The study is published in The Lancet.

Researchers have discovered how an incurable type of blood cancer develops from an often symptomless prior blood disorder.

The findings could lead to more effective treatments and ways to identify those most at risk of developing the cancer.

All patients diagnosed with myeloma, a cancer of the blood-producing bone marrow, first develop a relatively benign condition called 'monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance' or MGUS.

"Our findings show that very few changes are required for a MGUS patient to progress to myeloma as we now know virtually all patients with myeloma evolve from MGUS," said lead researcher Daniel Tennant from University of Birmingham in England.

"A drug that interferes with these initial metabolic changes could make very effective treatment for myeloma, so this is a very exciting discovery," Tennant explained.

MGUS is fairly common in the older population and only progresses to cancer in approximately one in 100 cases.

However, currently there is no way of accurately predicting which patients with MGUS are likely to go on to get myeloma.

It specifically affects antibody-producing white blood cells found in the bone marrow, called plasma cells.

For the study, the researchers compared the cellular chemistry of bone marrow and blood samples taken from patients with myeloma, patients with MGUS and healthy volunteers.

Surprisingly, the researchers found that the metabolic activity of the bone marrow of patients with MGUS was significantly different to plasma from healthy volunteers, but there were very few differences at all between the MGUS and myeloma samples.

The research team found over 200 products of metabolism differed between the healthy volunteers and patients with MGUS or myeloma, compared to just 26 differences between MGUS patients and myeloma patients.

The findings suggest that the biggest metabolic changes occur with the development of the symptomless condition MGUS and not with the later progression to myeloma.

The researchers believe that these small changes could drive the key shifts in the bone marrow required to support myeloma growth.

The study was published in Blood Cancer Journal.

Women belonging to different racial and ethnic backgrounds may have varying risks of developing certain types of cancers with African-American women having a greater tendency to develop an aggressive form of breast cancer, according to a new study.

It is believed that biology and genetics play a role in the development of certain types of cancers.

No matter the type or stage of breast cancer, minority women are more likely to be diagnosed later in the disease than white women, and they are also less likely to receive recommended treatments, a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention said.

Recent studies have found that African-American women have a tendency to develop an aggressive form of breast cancer called triple negative.

They are also diagnosed at a later stage of the disease when there are few options left for treatment.

The latest study was led by Lu Chen and her colleagues, from the division of public health sciences at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The researchers reported that as compared to white women, African-American women are not only more likely to be diagnosed at later stages with the most aggressive form of the disease, but also more likely to be diagnosed at later stages for all types of breast cancer.

"There are a lot of reasons why these women have a higher incidence of particular subtypes of breast cancer that may have something to do with genetics and biological factors," said Chen.

"But being diagnosed at a later stage and not receiving treatment-these disparities we think have more to do with social, cultural and economic factors," Chen said.

The study included 102,064 women from diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds, from 18 different cancer centers who were diagnosed with breast cancer.

The study showed that African-American, Hispanic, Asian and American Indian women showed 20 per cent to 60 per cent higher rates of cancer detection with stage 2 to stage 4 breast cancers, as compared to Caucasian women.

The African-American women had a 40 per cent to 70 per cent greater risk of being diagnosed with stage 4 of any type of breast cancer, compared to white women.

The study suggests that African-American, Hispanic and Native American women have less access to screening mammograms and are also less likely to get the recommended treatment for their disease.

Knowing that non-white women overall tend to be diagnosed at later stages for all types of breast cancer, and that they receive sub-optimal treatment, could help to change that potentially life-threatening pattern.

People with severe psoriasis may also have more inflammation in their blood vessels which can contribute to increased risk of heart attack and stroke, scientists, including those of Indian-origin, have warned.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease which occurs when skin cells grow too quickly, resulting in thick white or red patches of skin.

Previous research suggests psoriasis may be linked with a higher risk of cardiac events and cardiovascular-related death.

This may be the first study to examine whether psoriasis severity impacts inflammation in the blood vessels, researchers said.

In the study, researchers analyzed 60 adults (average age 47) with psoriasis and 20 (average age 41) without psoriasis. All study participants were at low risk for cardiovascular disease based on a traditional risk assessment.

They underwent a nuclear scan that measured blood vessel inflammation, and a dermatologist assessed the amount of psoriasis.

Researchers found that patients had psoriasis ranging from mild (only a few patches, less than 3 per cent of the skin surface affected) to severe (when patches cover more than 10 per cent of the skin surface).

The most extensive forms of psoriasis were associated with a 51 per cent increase in blood vessel inflammation.

The relationship between psoriasis and increased blood vessel inflammation did not change much after accounting for other heart disease risk factors.

"The most important observation we made was that the more psoriasis was on the skin, the more inflammation there was in the blood vessels," said senior study author Nehal N Mehta, clinical investigator in the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

The findings support the idea that the skin disease and cardiovascular disease may share an immune-related underlying mechanism, but does not prove one causes the other, researchers said.

"People who have psoriasis - particularly if it is severe - should be assessed by their doctor for cardiovascular risk factors, including diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity," Mehta said.

"They should also maintain an active lifestyle, avoid smoking and follow a balanced diet," Mehta said.

The co-authors of the study included Haley B Naik, Balaji Natarajan, Aditya A Joshi, and Parasuram Krishnamoorthy.

The research was published in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.