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 Researchers have created transgenic mice capable of detecting potential toxins in the human body.
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Researchers under the direction of Ronald M. Evans at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., have created a "humanized" mouse capable of detecting potentially toxic substances in the body. In the process, they have uncovered what they believe to be the primary source of the xenobiotic response within a specific gene they call SXR, steroid and xenobiotic receptor. SXR "may represent the critical biochemical mechanism of human xenoprotection," the authors wrote in a report.1 And the transgenic mouse--known as the SXR mouse--may well profoundly affect the course of drug development. "We have unequivocally demonstrated the basis for the xenobiotic response residing within a specific molecule, which is a nuclear receptor," explains Evans, director of the Gene Expression Laboratory at Salk and senior author of study. The work " ... makes the ...