Most diseases are caused by aberrant cell signaling processes and basic research in cell signaling is needed to identify targets for future therapeutic approaches, especially in cases where no cures or effective treatments are currently available. Cellular optogenetics uses light to precisely control cell signaling in space and over time, making it an invaluable technique for disease research. However, this potentially revolutionary method has been difficult for many researchers to use as, over long periods of time, the used light…
It has recently been described that infection by some enteroviruses – a genus of viruses that commonly cause diseases of varying severity – could potentially trigger diabetes, although its direct effect ‘in vivo’ as well as its mechanism of action at the molecular level were unknown. Now, a team of researchers from the Growth Factors, Nutrients and Cancer Group, led by Nabil Djouder at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), demonstrates for the first time in Cell Reports Medicine…
The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is known to infect cells via the receptor ACE2. An international research team under German-Finnish coordination has now identified neuropilin-1 as a factor that can facilitate SARS-CoV-2 entry into the cells’ interior. Neuropilin-1 is localized in the respiratory and olfactory epithelia, which could be a strategically important localization to contribute to SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and spreading. Experts from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Technical University of Munich, University Medical Center Göttingen, University of Helsinki and other…
CAR-T biotherapeutics company Carina Biotech and researchers at the University of South Australia have developed a novel approach based on microfluidic technology to “purify” the immune cells of patients in the fight against cancer. UniSA’s Future Industries Institute PhD student Mona Elsemary has developed a microfluidic approach to purify chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) cells, the bioengineered immune cells that are the basis of groundbreaking cellular immunotherapy – a transformative cancer therapy that harnesses the power of a patient’s immune system…
Decades-old data is being used to describe the propagation of tiny droplets; now a fluid dynamics team has developed new models: Masks and distancing are good, but not enough. Wear a mask, keep your distance, avoid crowds – these are the common recommendations to contain the COVID-19 epidemic. However, the scientific foundations on which these recommendations are based are decades old and no longer reflect the current state of knowledge. To change this, several research groups from the field of…
Coronavirus uses enzymatic cutter for virus production and to disable essential immune proteins. American and Polish scientists, reporting Oct. 16 in the journal Science Advances, laid out a novel rationale for COVID-19 drug design – blocking a molecular “scissor” that the virus uses for virus production and to disable human proteins crucial to the immune response. The researchers are from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) and the Wroclaw University of Science…
Treatment with a peptide that mimics the naturally occurring protein GIV prevents immune overreaction, supports a mechanism critical for survival in mouse models of sepsis and colitis. The immune response to infections is a delicate balance. We need just enough action to clear away the offending bacteria or viruses, but not so much that our own bodies suffer collateral damage. Macrophages are immune cells at the front line, detecting pathogens and kicking off an inflammatory response when needed. Understanding how…
Researchers unravel the healing mechanisms of extracellular vesicles and demonstrate their healing power on a heart-on-a-chip. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) — nanometer sized messengers that travel between cells to deliver cues and cargo — are promising tools for the next generation of therapies for everything from autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases to cancer and tissue injury. EVs derived from stem cells have already been shown to help heart cells recover after a heart attack, but exactly how they help and whether the…
University of Delaware researchers advance drug delivery systems to treat connective tissue disorders. University of Delaware Professor Kristi Kiick is leading collaborative research to create new drug delivery systems with the potential to improve treatment for diseases that affect connective tissues, such as osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease. The UD researchers have devised tiny cargo-carrying systems many times smaller than a human hair. These systems, or carriers, are made from molecules called peptides that help provide…
Samples from the lungs of patients show a runaway immune system reaction could be one mechanism behind severe COVID-19 cases. When infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, many people experience mild and moderate symptoms, but for some people infection can be severe or fatal. Scientists are urgently seeking to understand how COVID-19 can become severe. Now, a study led by Imperial College London researchers has revealed how an overreaction of part of the immune system could be linked to severe cases…
A team of researchers at the Institute for the Genetics of Heart Diseases at Münster University created a viral expression model that can be used to simulate and analyse a large number of viral infections – including the one with SARS-CoV-2. The results are published in the journal “Scientific Reports”. It is only 120 millionths of a millimetre in size but can bring entire countries to a standstill: the Corona virus. Even if it were to disappear one day, viral…
Findings could lead to ways to maximize our existing antimalarial arsenal. Even when a person suffering from malaria is burning up with fever and too sick to function, the tiny blood-eating parasites lurking inside them continue to flourish, relentlessly growing and multiplying as they gobble up the host’s red blood cells. The single-celled Plasmodium parasites that cause 200 million cases of malaria each year can withstand feverish temperatures that make their human hosts miserable. And now, a Duke University-led team…
Since 2004, Claude Knauf (INSERM) and Patrice Cani (UCLouvain) have been collaborating on molecular and cellular mechanisms in order to understand the causes of the development of type 2 diabetes and above all to identify new therapeutic targets. In 2013, they created an international laboratory, ‘NeuroMicrobiota Lab’ (INSERM-UCLouvain), to identify links between the brain and intestinal bacteria. Very quickly, they understood that the gut-brain axis plays a preponderant role in the regulation of sugar in the blood. When we eat,…
A Purdue University team has developed a novel testing platform to evaluate how breast cancer cells respond to the recurrent stretching that occurs in the lungs during breathing. The technology is designed to better understand the effects that the local tissue has on metastatic breast cancer to study how metastases grow in a new tissue. “One of the key features of breast cancer is that most patients survive if the disease stays local, but there is a greater than 70%…
The effectiveness of cancer treatment is often hampered by cancer cells being heterogeneous. This is the case for EGFR-mutated lung cancer: drugs based on biomolecules of a type known as tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) have been used to treat the disease, but with various levels of efficacy. (EGFR stands for “epidermal growth factor receptor”, a protein playing an important role in signaling processes from the extracellular environment to a cell.) Sometimes, tumor cells are simply resistant to the drug. Now,…
Specialized immune cells settle permanently in tissues of the body and build “local task forces”. Wuerzburger scientists have recently discovered, how these cells can regenerate themselves and can adapt to the new environment. When a pathogen invades the human body there has to be a rapid reaction in order to keep the damage to a minimum. Special immune cells act as a first line of defence. So-called innate lymphoid cells – in short ILCs- are located in mucosal tissue sites…
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