Studies in mice reveal the mechanism that induces this severe side effect and point to a solution that kills the cancer without causing gastrointestinal issues. Researchers at the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center have identified a mechanism that causes severe gastrointestinal problems with immune-based cancer treatment. They also found a way to deliver immunotherapy’s cancer-killing impact without the unwelcome side effect. The findings are published in Science. “This is a good example of how understanding a mechanism helps…
P. Nowak is Professor of Immune Engineering and Drug Discovery. Prof. Radosław P. Nowak has taken up the new professorship for “Immune Engineering and Drug Discovery” at the Institute of Structural Biology at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB). The 36-year-old biochemist will strengthen the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn scientifically in the field of systems immunology. He also wants to actively promote the topic of “drug discovery” in Bonn on an interfaculty basis and with non-university…
Cologne Researchers discover a new mechanism controlling the uptake of lipids from digested food. The maintenance of a balanced lipid homeostasis is critical for our health. While consumption of excessive amounts of fatty foods contributes to metabolic diseases such as obesity and atherosclerosis, fat is an indispensable component of our diet. Digested lipids supply the body with essential building blocks and facilitate the absorption of important vitamins. In a new study published in the journal Nature, a team of researchers…
First-of-its-kind clinical trial emphasizes precision medicine for older adults often overlooked in musculoskeletal research. When the University of Delaware’s Gregory Hicks started his research career two decades ago, he was one of only a few people in the United States studying chronic low back pain in people over 60 years old. Fast-forward to today, the research on back pain has ramped up, yet studies of older adults with the problem are still sparse. “Unfortunately, the societal attitude is that older…
MHH study investigates Biontech vaccine for booster vaccination against the current coronavirus variant XBB1.5. The pandemic is over, but many people in Germany are still infected with the coronavirus. The current Omikron variants in particular are highly contagious. The new booster vaccines from Biontech and Moderna are specially adapted to the Omikron subline XBB.1.5. However, the effectiveness of the new boosters has not yet been proven. A study by the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology at Hannover Medical School (MHH)…
The pathway may help explain why patients develop vision loss from “wet” or advanced “dry” macular degeneration. In a study published December 4 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Wilmer Eye Institute researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have found how a molecular pathway — involving oxidative stress, or an imbalance of molecular oxygen in cells, and the protein HIF-1 — contributes to what kind of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) a patient could develop. The leading cause of…
Bonn researchers take the lead in developing classification criteria for gene variants that can lead to hereditary colorectal cancer. Genetic confirmation of the suspected diagnosis of “hereditary colorectal cancer” is of great importance for the medical care of affected families. However, many of the variants identified in the known genes cannot currently be classified with certainty with regard to their causative role in tumor formation. Under the leadership of the Institute of Human Genetics at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB),…
MHH project investigates differences in neurological symptoms between multiple sclerosis and the rare Sjögren’s syndrome. Different diseases can cause similar symptoms. For treatment, however, it is important to know which cause is responsible for the symptoms. This is because a medication that helps against one disease may be ineffective or even harmful for another. This is precisely the problem that arises in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and Sjögren’s syndrome. Both are autoimmune diseases caused by an overregulation of…
In patients affected by myelodysplastic neoplasms, the body does not produce enough functional blood cells. Patients suffer from anaemia – a lack of red blood cells and haemoglobin – which can progress to acute leukaemia. Imetelstat, a new agent beyond the current standard of care, may help to avoid blood transfusions, which can be a burden for MDS patients, especially over a long period of time. This effect was demonstrated in a clinical trial at 118 sites in 17 countries…
TUM researchers develop rapid test for severe infections. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a method for assessing the number and structure of aggregated blood platelets (or thrombocytes) that can potentially help quantify the risk of a severe COVID-19 infection. As a result, they have identified a predictive biomarker for the seriousness of a COVID-19 infection. This will allow physicians to adjust treatment at an early stage. The researchers used a method from image-based flow cytometry…
Damage to the body’s peripheral nerves can cause pain and movement disorders. Researchers at the Leipzig University have recently investigated how damaged nerves can regenerate better. They found that fat tissue strongly supports the Schwann cells needed for repair during the healing process. The results were published in the renowned journal “Cell Metabolism”. Our bodies are transversed by millions of nerve fibres that transmit information. This allows us to do things like control muscles and perceive sensory impressions. Peripheral nerves,…
Bonn researchers uncover contribution of Cylicin proteins to male fertility. For successful fertilization, sperm should move forward rapidly and be shaped correctly. The unique structure of the sperm cells forms during spermiogenesis. Now, researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Transdisciplinary Research Unit “Life & Health” at the University of Bonn have found that fertility problems in both mice and humans can be caused by loss of so-called cylicines. This causes defects in head and tail structure of…
A recently discovered genetic mutation could be the cause of some severe and baffling cases of osteoporosis – including in young people. The condition called idiopathic osteoporosis (IOP) occurs in younger adults and often involves bone fractures, even in patients with no history of physical trauma. Head of Hudson Institute’s Metabolic Bone Research Group, Associate Professor Frances Milat, says the condition is often challenging to diagnose and treat due to factors including a poor understanding of the underlying cause, a lack of management…
Targeting cholesterol potentially could help treat Alzheimer’s, related dementias. In Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, cognitive decline is driven by the overaccumulation of a normal brain protein known as tau. Wherever tau builds up, nearby brain tissue starts to degenerate and die. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found — in mice — that Alzheimer’s-like tau deposits in the brain lead to the accumulation of a form of cholesterol known as cholesteryl esters, and…
A donated organ always remains foreign to the body and is fought against by the immune system. In order to prevent rejection, the entire immune defence must be suppressed for a lifetime. An MHH research team is now using genetically modified killer cells against precisely those immune cells that want to destroy the transplant. If an organ is incurably diseased and fails, the only remaining treatment option is a transplant. However, the recipient’s immune system recognises the donor organ as…
New therapeutic strategy to reduce neuronal death in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects neurons in the brain and spinal cord causing loss of muscle control. A study by the University of Barcelona has designed a potential therapeutic strategy to tackle this pathology that has no treatment to date. It is a molecular trap that prevents one of the most common genetic ALS-causing peptide compounds, the Poly-GR dipeptide, from causing its toxic effects…
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