First study to date to investigate cancer risk in mosaic RASopathies due to disease-causing variants in the HRAS or KRAS genes shows the importance of close cancer surveillance. Hereditary changes in genes are often the cause of rare diseases. For example, disease-causing gene variants (PVs) in the HRAS gene cause Costello syndrome and PVs in the KRAS gene cause Noonan syndrome and cardio-facio-cutaneous syndrome. If such PVs only arise during embryonic development in the womb, those affected suffer from a…
Bonn researchers use nanobodies to elucidate pore formation by gasdermin D in cell membranes: The formation of pores by a particular protein, gasdermin D, plays a key role in inflammatory reactions. During its activation, an inhibitory part is split off. More than 30 of the remaining protein fragments then combine to form large pores in the cell membrane, which allow the release of inflammatory messengers. As methods for studying these processes in living cells have so far been inadequate, the…
Results from a preclinical study in mice, led by EPFL, and a collaborative clinical study in patients show that the type 2 immune response – associated with parasitic infection and thought to play a negative role in cancer immunity – is positively correlated with long-term cancer remission. In 2012, 7-year-old Emily Whitehead became the first pediatric patient to receive pioneering chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) therapy to fight the recurrence of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Twelve years later, Emily is in…
By targeting multiprotein molecule, antibody inhibits bacteria’s growth, pathogenicity. Bacterial infections resulting in enteritis, sometimes extra-intestinal infections such as sepsis, continue to be a global health concern. A leading cause of diarrheal and extra-intestinal infectious mortality among children under 5 and elderly persons is infection with Campylobacter bacteria, against which there is no effective vaccine or medication. An Osaka Metropolitan University-led team has recently uncovered what could be an important step toward preventing, diagnosing, and treating a species of Campylobacter…
Coronavirus spike proteins can be selectively detected in 5 minutes. Light-induced immunoassay coated with novel coronavirus spike proteins found highly sensitive even with weak light like a laser pointer. Like moths to a flame, microbes can also be moved by light. Using this knowledge, researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University’s Research Institute for Light-induced Acceleration System (RILACS) have demonstrated a method to detect the presence of viruses quickly and using only a small sample. The research team led by OMU Professor…
Researchers clarify the function of specialized nerve cells in me. Specialized nerve cells in the temporal lobe react highly selectively to images and names of a single person or specific objects. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have provided direct evidence for the first time that the so-called concept neurons are indeed the building blocks of our memory for experiences. Their results have now been published in the renowned journal “Nature Communications”. Certain nerve…
Severe systemic lupus no longer detectable after cancer medication treatment. The team at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is astounded by the huge improvement seen in a female patient with severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) after being treated with the cancer medication teclistamab. Not long ago, the 23-year-old was wheelchair-bound due to the autoimmune disease. Nearly six months after starting treatment, the patient is now completely symptom-free. Only time will tell if this improvement will last over the long term, but…
MHH study investigates how effective inhalation with hypertonic saline solution is for incurable respiratory disease PCD. In primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), our lungs are no longer able to cleanse themselves. The cause is a congenital disorder of the cilia in the bronchi. Similar to cystic fibrosis, this causes thick mucus to accumulate in the airways. People with PCD suffer from chronic bronchitis, pneumonia or enlargement of the lower airways (bronchiectasis) from an early age. There is no cure. PCD is…
Researchers from Bonn and Japan clarify how neighboring synapses coordinate their response to plasticity signals: Nerve cells in the brain receive thousands of synaptic signals via their “antenna”, the so-called dendritic branch. Permanent changes in synaptic strength correlate with changes in the size of dendritic spines. However, it was previously unclear how the neurons implement these changes in strength across several synapses that are close to each other and active at the same time. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn…
Artificial intelligence for Clinical Pathology. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems shows promise in medicine, where they can be used to detect diseases earlier, improve treatments, and ease staff workloads. But their performance depends on how well the AI is trained. A new multi-task approach to training AI makes it possible to train foundation models quicker and more cost-effectively, with less data. Researchers are turning to this approach to compensate for the shortage of data in medical imaging —…
MHH is participating in a BMBF project and wants to build a comprehensive database. Endometriosis is a benign but chronic disease. About ten to 15 per cent of all women of childbearing age are affected. In these women, tissue that resembles the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. While some patients are completely unaware of their condition, others suffer from severe pain or a range of other symptoms. Because endometriosis is difficult to diagnose, it is often referred…
Bonn researchers clarify self-regulation of the immune response in the CRISPR bacterial defense system: CRISPR gene scissors, as new tools of molecular biology, have their origin in an ancient bacterial immune system. But once a virus attack has been successfully overcome, the cell has to recover. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, in cooperation with researchers from the Institut Pasteur in France, have discovered a timer integrated into the gene scissors that enables the…
Bonn researchers clarify the influence of treatment with tetrahydrocannabinol on the metabolic switch mTOR: A low-dose long-term administration of cannabis can not only reverse aging processes in the brain, but also has an anti-aging effect. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn together with a team from Hebrew University (Israel) have now been able to show this in mice. They found the key to this in the protein switch mTOR, whose signal strength has an…
A team led by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, German Rheumatology Research Center and the Max Delbrück Center have defined key cells behind severe kidney damage in lupus. The research, published in “Nature,” can inform future antibody therapies. A Berlin-led research team has uncovered critical regulators of severe kidney damage in patients with lupus, an autoimmune disorder affecting an estimated five million people worldwide, most of which are young women. A small, specialized population of immune cells – called innate lymphoid…
Standard medical procedures are often time-consuming and generally do not take into account the individual characteristics of patients. This can have a negative impact on the success of treatment and impair quality of life. To solve this problem, a Fraunhofer research team from Fraunhofer IPMS, Fraunhofer IZI and Fraunhofer IOF is developing disposable biosensors that deliver rapid results and have extensive multiplexing capabilities. These biosensors enable the early detection of diseases and have the potential to significantly improve healthcare. On-Chip…
Encouraging results from a large international study led by Heidelberg have recently been published in the journal “Lancet”: The genetic material of cancer cells with unknown tissue of origin contains numerous targets for specific drugs that are already available and have been developed to treat other forms of cancer. These suppressed the disease in CUP patients for significantly longer than chemotherapy. If metastases occur in the body, but the original tumor remains undetectable, this is referred to as “cancer of…
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