Search for: "macrophages" - 103 articles found

News • Predictive phenotypes

Ovarian cancer: new insights into immune landscapes

Defining four different immunologic subtypes of recurrent ovarian cancers, researchers pave the way for more personalized treatment.

News • Therapy innovation

Four advances that could change tuberculosis treatment

World TB Day raises awareness about tuberculosis and commemorates the discovery of the source bacterium M. tuberculosis. More than a century later, scientists still refine anti-TB strategies.

News • Aldosterone-producing adenomas

The surprising complexity of adrenal gland tumors

New research uncovers the hidden diversity of adrenal gland tumors, shedding light on how they cause unusual medical symptoms and paving the way for new drug treatments.

News • Potential for new cardiac treatments

Born to heal: Why babies recover after heart damage, but adults do not

Newborns with heart complications can rely on their immune systems to regenerate, but adults aren’t so lucky. A new study explores this mechanism, paving the way for treatments after a heart attack.

News • Accelerated bone-to-implant integration

Responsive coating could fast-track implant integration after surgery

A new type of photocurrent-responsive coating has been shown to shorten the bone-to-implant integration time after orthopaedic surgery to just two weeks.

News • New approach to combat treatment resistance

How chemotherapy affects ovarian cancer tumours

Research offers new insights into harnessing the immune system to combat ovarian cancer. The findings could lead to personalized therapies that target the right patients at the right time.

News • New therapy approach for brain tumors

Attacking glioblastoma from multiple angles

A new approach to fight glioblastoma: Swiss researchers have now developed an immunotherapy that not only attacks the brain tumor—it also turns its microenvironment against it.

Video • Cancer research

3D-printed tumor model reveals metastasis mechanisms

New insights into metastasis: Scientists created a 3D-printed model to mimic the specific conditions that spur the spread of cancer cells. This could help discover new screening and treatment options.

News • Glioblastoma research

Brain scars from cancer treatment key factor for relapse

Researchers have identified fibrotic scarring as a key source of resurgence of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The new insights could lead to better prevention of this type of brain cancer.

News • Focus on ILC immune cells

Research reveals cause for lupus kidney damage

Systemic lupus erythematodes can lead to severe kidney damage. However, until now, the cause for this remained unclear. New research has now revealed the underlying mechanism.

News • Evolution and host-specific adaptation

Pseudomonas aeruginosa: origins of an epidemic pathogen

How do pathogenic bacteria evolve to become epidemic? To find out, researchers examined DNA data from almost 10,000 samples taken from infected individuals, animals, and environments around the world.

News • Success of aRCC treatment

New biomarker to better predict immunotherapy response in kidney cancer

Immunotherapy increases survival rates in kidney cancer, but does not work for everyone. A research team developed a new method to predict which patients will benefit from it.

News • Chronic inflammatory disease

"Frozen shoulder" holds key to understanding fibrosis resolution

Researchers have identified how cells work to resolve "frozen shoulder", a painful and disabling condition affecting the ligaments that form the shoulder joint capsule.

News • Novel treatment strategy

Antibacterial nanoparticles to shorten tuberculosis therapy duration

A low-cost technology involving nano-sized antimicrobial compounds against tuberculosis has been developed by researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP).

News • Cytokine reference

New “dictionary” reveals suprising complexity of immune responses

Scientists map the effects of 86 immune-signaling molecules called cytokines on every major immune cell type, creating a reference for studying the inner workings of the immune system.

News • Friend and foe in one

Breast cancer: The paradoxical role of white blood cells

White blood cells found in breast tumors can both help and hinder the spread of cancer cells to other organs, a new study from Karolinska Institutet shows.

News • Study sheds new light

How diabetes can lead to poor wound healing

A newly discovered mechanism involving exosomes can drive inflammation and impair healing of wounds in diabetes patients, according to a new study led by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC researchers.

News • Achromobacter research

Cystic fibrosis: new bacteria discovery could lead to better treatments

A new research breakthrough could lead to the development of new treatments for people with compromised immune systems, such as those with cystic fibrosis.

News • Brain cancer reseach

Researchers reveal mechanisms that make tumours malignant

Brain tumour progression to a malignant state is believed to be the result of an intricate interplay between cancer cells and the tumour microenvironment. Greek researchers shed new light on the mechanisms.

News • Women's health

Why obesity makes ovarian cancer more deadly

A new study led by researchers from the University of Notre Dame links a high body mass index (BMI) to alterations in the structure and environment of cancerous tumors.

News • MTX in the mix

Researchers develop novel therapy for vancomycin-resistant infections

Researchers from the US, Singapore and Geneva have developed a novel combination therapy using an anticancer agent for treating vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE).

News • Regenerative medicine

Tapping into a tumor's power to heal non-healing wounds

Scientists have discovered a way to train healthy immune cells to acquire the skills of some tumor cells for a good purpose: to accelerate diabetic wound healing.

News • Environmental medicine

Study shows how air pollution eats away at the immune system

The diminished power of the immune system in older adults is usually blamed on the aging process. But a new study shows that decades of particulate air pollution also take a toll.

News • Neuroinflammation research

Exploring the long-term consequences of infections

Researchers mapped in detail how the immune system acts against pathogens invading the brain. This sheds new light on host-pathogen interactions and the long-term consequences of brain infections.

News • HCC in vitro research

Organoids give new clues to liver cancer progression

Newly engineered in vitro tumour models open ways to better understand the crosstalk between liver cancer cells and their microenvironment, researchers from Singapore found.

News • Macrophages

Hunting for immune cells that predispose people to severe Covid-19

When a virus makes its way into the body, one of the immune system’s first responders is a set of pathogen-removal cells called macrophages. But they don’t all target viruses in the same way.

News • Oncology

A new biomarker for personalized breast cancer therapy

"Crown-like structures" surrounding breast tumors in overweight and obese patients could hinder their response to therapy. The findings of this study could potentially be used to improve personalized treatment for patients.

News • Customized to the patient

Organ-on-a-chip systems go 'plug and play'

A major advance demonstrates first multi-organ chip made of engineered human tissues linked by vascular flow for improved modeling of systemic diseases like cancer.

News • Oncology

Biodegradable hydrogel boosts immune system’s attack on cancers

A new biodegradable gel improves the immune system’s ability to keep cancer at bay after tumors are surgically removed.

News • Inflammatory response

Drug coat on implants reduces "foreign body" reaction

An anti-inflammatory drug incorporated into the coating around an implantable electronic medical device – such as a pacemaker – can reduce the body’s "foreign body" reaction.

News • Cancer research

How the body fights back against leukemia

New research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Quadram Institute reveals how our immune system can be triggered to attack cancer cells.

News • Bone marrow transplant

The impact of chemotherapy on the brain

Pre-transplant chemotherapy facilitates the replacement of the brain's innate immune cells, by other immune cells derived from the transplanted stem cells.

News • Brachytherapy side-effects

Countering skin damage from cancer radiation therapy with light

Light therapy may accelerate the healing of skin damage from radiation therapy by up to 50%, according to a recent University at Buffalo-led study.

News • Cancer research

How to break through a tumor's protective shield

The immune system protects the body from cancer. To protect healthy body cells from its own immune system, they have developed a protective shield: the protein CD47 is a so called "don’t eat me" signal, which tells the immune cells to stand back. Tumor cells exploit this CD47-based protection strategy for evading the immune system, by increasing presentation of CD47 on their cell…

News • 'POEMS' for cardiology

New method tracks heart activity optical and electrical simultaneously

It is still elusive to what extent interactions between different cell types of the heart influence the normal heart rhythm and possibly trigger life-threatening arrhythmias. A new measurement method developed at the University of Bern combines for the first time optical and electrical recording of cardiac ventricular activation which, in conjunction with optogenetics, will permit finding…

News • Promising approach

New nanoparticles suppress resistance to cancer immunotherapy

Hokkaido University scientists and colleagues in Japan have found a way that could help some patients overcome resistance to an immunotherapy treatment for cancer. The approach, proven in mice experiments, was reported in the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer.

News • Patient response testing

New method predicts which cancer therapies work (and which don't)

A new technology that can study which therapies will work on patients with solid cancerous tumours has been developed by scientists at University College London (UCL). Researchers say the tool, which can rapidly test tumorous tissue against different treatments, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy or radiotherapy, could be used by clinicians to pinpoint the best therapy for a particular patient.

News • Infection research

Understanding lung damage in Covid-19 patients

Covid-19 disease severity is determined by the individual patient’s immune response. The precise mechanisms taking place inside the lungs and blood during the early phase of the disease, however, remain unclear. Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and Freie Universität Berlin have now studied the cellular mechanisms…

News • Bioorganic chemistry

Why M. tuberculosis is so resistant to drugs and immune defenses

A consortium of researchers from Russia, Belarus, Japan, Germany and France led by the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology have uncovered the way in which Mycobacterium tuberculosis survives in iron-deficient conditions by utilizing rubredoxin B, a protein from a rubredoxin family that play an important role in adaptation to changing environmental conditions.

News • BMMF research

Novel pathogens: a driver for colorectal cancer?

Do BMMFs, the novel infectious agents found in dairy products and bovine sera, play a role in the development of colorectal cancer? Scientists led by Harald zur Hausen detected the pathogens in colorectal cancer patients in close proximity to tumors. The researchers show that the BMMFs trigger local chronic inflammation, which can cause mutations via activated oxygen molecules and thus promote…

News • Brain tumour analysis

Glioblastoma '3D maps' help find new therapies

Researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona obtained a highly accurate recreation of human glioblastoma’s features using a novel 3D microscopy analysis. The study, published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications, provides new information to help with the diagnose, by finding therapeutical targets and designing immunotherapeutical strategies.

News • Research collaboration

'Cells of the future' might cure lung infections

Healing the body with cells – this is the ambitious goal of scientists at Hannover Medical School (MHH). With this in mind, Professor Dr. Nico Lachmann and Dr. Robert Zweigerdt have initiated a research collaboration and license agreement with the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S, to combine academic knowhow with the translational power of the industry. The overall aim of the endeavor is…

News • Intensive care

Protecting lungs from ventilation-induced injury

An unfortunate truth about the use of mechanical ventilation to save the lives of patients in respiratory distress is that the pressure used to inflate the lungs is likely to cause further lung damage. In a new study, scientists identified a molecule that is produced by immune cells during mechanical ventilation to try to decrease inflammation, but isn’t able to completely prevent…

News • Lasts longer, causes more damage

Covid-19 pneumonia: not your typical garden-variety pneumonia

Bacteria or viruses like influenza that cause pneumonia can spread across large regions of the lung within hours. In the modern intensive care unit, these bacteria or viruses are usually controlled either by antibiotics or by the body’s immune system within the first few days of the illness. But in a study published in Nature, investigators at Northwestern Medicine show Covid-19 pneumonia is…

News • Dangerous immune response

New insight on severe virus attacks on the lungs

In some cases, immune cells in the lungs can contribute to worsening a virus attack. In a new study, researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe how different kinds of immune cells, called macrophages, develop in the lungs and which of them may be behind severe lung diseases. The study, which was published in Immunity, may contribute to future treatments for Covid-19, among other diseases.

Video • Correlative light, electron and ion microscopy in tissue

New imaging method reveals bacteria hiding from antibiotics

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and the University of Western Australia have developed a new imaging method to see where antibiotics have reached bacteria within tissues. The method could be used to help develop more effective antibiotic treatments, reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance.

Video • Computer model vs. Covid-19

Discovering new weaknesses of SARS-CoV-2 through bioinformatics

The search for antiviral agents against the new coronavirus is in full swing. Using a novel approach, Bioinformaticians have now discovered a weakness in the virus that could be exploited for drug development. In a computer model, the scientists discovered a human enzyme that is crucial for the virus. When it was switched off in the model, the virus could no longer multiply.

Article • Profiling the coronavirus

Experts unlock Covid-19 secrets

Experts have identified two distinct immunological and cellular profiles in the lungs of Covid-19 patients which they believe could help define treatment pathways. From some of the earliest Covid-19 autopsies conducted in Europe, Swiss-based researchers have performed integrative digital pathology and transcriptomic analyses of lung tissues of 16 coronavirus patients who died from respiratory…

News • Biomaterial research

Wound-healing hydrogel to improve skin tissue repair

Researchers at Duke University and the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed a biomaterial that significantly reduces scar formation after wounding, leading to more effective skin healing. This new material, which quickly degrades once the wound has closed, demonstrates that activating an adaptive immune response can trigger regenerative wound healing, leaving behind stronger and…

News • Anti-inflammation

Can special coatings reduce complications after implant surgery?

New coatings on implants could help make them more compatible. Researchers at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have developed a new method of applying anti-inflammatory substances to implants in order to inhibit undesirable inflammatory reactions in the body. Their study was recently published in the "International Journal of Molecular Sciences".

News • Soaking up SARS-CoV-2

Nanosponges could intercept coronavirus infection

Nanoparticles cloaked in human lung cell membranes and human immune cell membranes can attract and neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell culture, causing the virus to lose its ability to hijack host cells and reproduce.

News • BTK inhibitor vs. respiratory distress

Off-label cancer drug shows promise against severe COVID-19

Early data from a clinical study suggest that blocking the Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein provided clinical benefit to a small group of patients with severe COVID-19. Researchers observed that the off-label use of the cancer drug acalabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor that is approved to treat several blood cancers, was associated with reduced respiratory distress and a reduction in the overactive…

News • BCG vs tumour recurrence

Modified tuberculosis vaccine shows promise against bladder cancer

The human immune system can recognize and eliminate not only germs but also cancer cells. This is why treatments with weakened germs can help the immune system in its fight against cancer. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin have genetically modified the tuberculosis vaccine BCG in a way that it stimulates the immune system more specifically. Consequently, the…

News • Novel immune checkpoint discovered

Targeting the cancer microenvironment

Researchers discover a novel checkpoint in immune cells with the potential to treat the cancer cell microenvironment. The recognition of bacterial infections or foreign substances is mediated and controlled by the human immune system. This innate and adaptive immune system comprises the most important metabolic and cellulare processes to fight against infections and other diseases. Paradoxically,…

News • Double danger

MS patients at a greater risk of cancer, new study suggests

New results of a 65-year follow-up study of nearly 7,000 Norwegian patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) suggest that patients may have a greater overall risk of developing cancer than the general population, with an especially high risk of cancer in respiratory organs, urinary organs and the central nervous system. Presented at the 5th European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress in Oslo,…

News • Tumor-associated macrophages

Immune cells key to predicting cancer outcomes

Scientists have identified key changes in immune cells within cancerous tumours that could help improve the development of treatments. The study, which has been published in the journal Cancer Cell, also found a set of genes that are expressed at high levels in breast cancer tumours and linked to more aggressive cancer types. Researchers say the discoveries offer clues to diagnosis and predicting…

News • Neurodegeneration

Study sheds new light on microglia

Inside the body, disease and injury can leave behind quite the mess — a scattering of cellular debris, like bits of broken glass, rubber and steel left behind in a car accident. Inside the central nervous system (CNS), a region that includes the brain and spinal cord, it is the job of certain cells, called microglia, to clean up that cellular debris. Microglia have counterparts called…

News • Thrombocytes

Blocking platelets could prevent fatty liver disease and liver cancer

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is among the most common chronic hepatic disorders in Western industrial countries and the rate is also rapidly rising in newly industrialized countries. Experts estimate that about 30 to 40 percent of the population worldwide develop this liver condition. In the United States, this disease is well on the way to becoming the most frequent indication for liver…

Article • Radiomics

A boost for thoracic radiology

A new radiomics study could help unlock one of the more challenging issues facing thoracic radiologists. Distinguishing non-small cell lung cancer from benign nodules is a major challenge due to their similar appearance on CT images. Now, however, researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, have used radiomic features extracted from CT images to differentiate between…

Article • Maps of the brain

7-Tesla MR enters clinical routine

Ultra-high-field magnetic resonance tomography with field strength of 7 Tesla is slowly but surely entering clinical routine. ‘Thanks to very high spatial and spectral resolution, ultra-high-field MR permits detailed views of the human anatomy and can show precisely the metabolic processes such as those in the brain,’ said Professor Siegfried Trattnig, from Vienna’s Medical University.

News • Immune-boosting substance

This gel could help the body after cancer surgery

Many people who are diagnosed with cancer will undergo some type of surgery to treat their disease — almost 95 percent of people with early-diagnosed breast cancer will require surgery and it’s often the first line of treatment for people with brain tumors, for example. But despite improvements in surgical techniques over the past decade, the cancer often comes back after the procedure. Now,…

News • Cancer research

Seeking a vaccine to prevent lethal pneumonia

Mariette Barbier, an assistant professor in the West Virginia University School of Medicine, and her research team are investigating ways to keep cystic fibrosis patients and other at-risk populations—including patients hospitalized for severe burns or recovering from major surgery—from catching this deadly illness.

Article • Cardiovascular care

Manipulating atoms and molecules with nanomedicine

Nanomedicine is set to play an increasingly important role in the future diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Understanding the importance of nanomedicine was enhanced by four experts who spoke at the British Cardiovascular Society conference held in June. The technology – dealing with dimensions and tolerances of less than 100 nanometres and especially the manipulation of…

News • Research

First evidence that soot from polluted air is reaching placenta

Evidence of tiny particles of carbon, typically created by burning fossil fuels, has been found in placentas for the first time, in new research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress. Previous research has indicated links between pregnant mothers’ exposure to air pollution and premature birth, low birth weight, infant mortality and childhood respiratory problems.

News • Infections

Zika virus strips immune cells of their identity

Macrophages are immune cells that are supposed to protect the body from infection by viruses and bacteria. Yet Zika virus preferentially infects these cells. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have now unraveled how the virus shuts down the genes that make macrophages function as immune cells.

Article • Heard at the British Cardiovascular Society conference

The role of nanomedicine in CV diagnosis

Nanomedicine will play an increasingly important role in future diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease, a subject explored in detail by four expert speakers at the British Cardiovascular Society conference in Manchester in June. The conference heard that the technology – dealing with dimensions and tolerances of less than 100 nanometres, especially the manipulation of individual…

News • Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis

Taking a pill can effectively treat brutal lung disease

Researchers Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center report that they figured out why air sacs in the lungs clog up with a thick substance called surfactant in a brutal disease called Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP), and they show taking cholesterol-busting pills called statins can effectively treat the disease.

News • Infections

Zika suppresses virus fighting cells

More than two years after reports of skyrocketing Zika rates surfaced worldwide, questions still loom about this complicated virus. Professor of Biological Science Hengli Tang and his postdoctoral researcher Jianshe Lang from the Florida State University take a deep dive into the differences between Zika and the Dengue virus.

News • Oncology

Breaking through a tumor's defenses

Babraham Institute researchers have shown that some tumours use not one but two levels of protection against the immune system. Knocking out one level boosted the protective effects of the second and vice versa. The research demonstrates that a two-pronged approach targeting both cell types simultaneously may offer a promising route for the development of new cancer immunotherapies.

News • Research

Patient immune response could prevent heart failure

Patients’ own immune response has the potential to prevent the development and progression of heart failure, according to research presented at Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) 2018, a European Society of Cardiology congress. The study found antibodies in the plasma and heart muscle of end-stage heart failure patients. “The role of the immune response in the development of heart…

News • Efferocytosis

Can stem cell exosome therapy reduce fatal heart disease in diabetes?

Macrophage cells routinely remove dead or dying cells to maintain the body homeostasis. Such removal becomes crucial after serious injury, especially the repair of dead heart muscle after a heart attack. University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have preliminary data, with cultured cells or diabetic hearts, that diabetes impairs this removal of dead heart-muscle cells. They believe this…

News • Macrophages

How immune cells help early breast cancer spread

Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that normal immune cells called macrophages, which reside in healthy breast tissue surrounding milk ducts, play a major role in helping early breast cancer cells leave the breast for other parts of the body, potentially creating metastasis before a tumor has even developed, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The macrophages play a role…

News • Infiltrating tumors

Immune cells predict therapy response in breast cancer

When immune cells invade the tumor, this is usually considered a good sign because the body's own immune system appears to be responding to the cancer. In the case of certain types of breast cancer immune cells, namely so-called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), these can determine survival rates and predict the usefulness of chemotherapy. This was shown by the largest meta study on TIL…

News • Possible vaccine in sight

A new strategy for prevention of liver cancer development

Primary liver cancer is now the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and its incidences and mortality are increasing rapidly in the United Stated. In late stages of the malignancy, there are no effective treatments or drugs. However, an unexpected finding made by a team of University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers sheds light on the development of a new…

News • Regeneration

Immune cells help rebuild damaged nerves

Immune cells are normally associated with fighting infection but in a new study, scientists have discovered how they also help the nervous system clear debris, making way for nerve regeneration after injury. In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine showed certain immune cells—neutrophils—can clean up nerve debris,…

Article • New scan

Hyperpolarised MRI detects inflammation after heart attack

A new type of scan that can detect cardiac inflammation may help tailor treatment for patients who have suffered a heart attack, according to research findings presented at the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) conference in June.

Article • Electrospinning

Renewing the promise of bioabsorbable implants

Electrospun materials bring a spark of hope to a cardiovascular landscape darkened by setbacks for reabsorbable stents. It was famously said that implanting a device in a person to cure a disease is to implant a new disease. Simply put, the human body will continually fight against foreign materials, leading to chronic inflammations or repeated interventions.

News • Joint disease

Treating arthritis with algae

Could a new weapon in the fight against arthritis be found somewhere beyond the sea? New research from Switzerland encourages this idea.

News • "Bad cholesterol"

Mechanism shown to reverse disease in arteries

A certain immune reaction is the key, not to slowing atherosclerosis like cholesterol-lowering drugs do, but instead to reversing a disease that gradually blocks arteries to cause heart attacks and strokes. This is the finding of a study in mice led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center.

News • Diabetes research

Healing burn wounds with cell therapy

An experimental treatment in mice allows the reprogramming of blood cells in order to promote the healing process of cutaneous wounds. This approach could prove to be beneficial in healing challenging wounds in diabetics and major-burn victims.

Article • Infections

Seeking the role of messenger substances in infections

Using computer-based simulations and mouse experiments, researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (OVGU), have disentangled the effects of pro-inflammatory signalling molecules on the postinfluenza susceptibility to pneumococcal coinfection.

News • Neurodegenerative diseases

Brain cell ‘executioner’ identified

Despite their different triggers, the same molecular chain of events appears to be responsible for brain cell death from strokes, injuries and even such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have pinpointed the protein at the end of that chain of events, one that delivers the fatal strike by carving up a cell's DNA. The find, they say, potentially…

News • Infection

Why does MRSA ‘superbug’ kill influenza patients?

Researchers have discovered that secondary infection with the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium (or “superbug”) often kills influenza patients because the flu virus alters the antibacterial response of white blood cells, causing them to damage the patients’ lungs instead of destroying the bacterium. The study suggests that inhibiting this response may help treat…

Article • Drug delivery

Biotherapeutics strike cancer cell growth

Many drug treatments do not work due to their poor ability to reach their intended targets inside patients’ cells. To address this, researchers at Cardiff University’s Schools of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Biosciences have designed a highly efficient method to improve the delivery of therapeutic molecules into diseased cells such as those in stomach cancer, breast cancer and…

News • vitiligo

Natural killer cells have a memory

Researchers at the University of Bonn and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich have decoded a new mechanism of how the immune system can specifically attack pigmented cells of the skin. It was previously believed that natural killer cells did not have an immunological memory for the body's own tissues. However, the scientists have now showed that these immune cells can indeed…

News • Key factor identified

Why is the immune system unable to combat HIV?

An international research group with essential participation of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, has identified NLRX1, a cellular factor of the human cell that is indispensable to the replication of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1). This factor plays a key role in attenuating the innate immune system towards HIV-1. Until now, the significance of NLRX1 for the replication of HIV-1 and the…

News • Drug delivery vehicles

Stealth effect of nanocarriers conferred more efficiently

By using drug delivery vehicles, so-called nanocarriers, pharmaceuticals reach the diseased area in the body. There they accelerate the healing process. But in order to prevent them from getting ingested by phagocytes, the surfaces of the nanocarriers are typically coated with the biocompatible synthetic polymer poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Scientists at the Mainz University Medical Center and…

News • Preclinical Alzheimer's disease

Omega-3 supplements and antioxidants may help

New research in The FASEB Journal suggests that clinical trials of omega-3 and antioxidant supplementation should be undertaken for people with Alzheimer's disease with mild clinical impairment.

Blood vessel lining cells control metastasis

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and from the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University treated mice with a combination of a low-dose metronomic chemotherapy and an antibody against Ang-2, a regulatory protein of the blood vessel lining cells. The treated animals had significantly less metastases.

Interview • Diagnostics

Iron deficiency and anaemia

Iron deficiency and resulting anaemia cause fatal comorbidities worldwide. Despite this, they are generally underestimated. Professor Lothar Thomas, specialist in laboratory medicine at Central Laboratory of the University Hospital of Frankfurt/Main, is calling for more information about the new laboratory parameters for diagnosis and monitoring of iron deficiency and iron substitution therapy.

Article • Vulnerable plaque imaging

Looking for the perfect modality

What's the ideal solution for vulnerable plaque imaging? 'A non-invasive imaging procedure with high spatial and temporal resolution, and without radiation exposure, and which provides information on coronary plaque composition precisely and in series.' Report: Axel Viola

Obesity from the lab point of view

Over the last 25 years overweight and obesity have become a global epidemic. According to WHO figures, at least 400 million adults are obese worldwide. Part of this phenomenon relates to lifestyle changes - lack of exercise, wrong eating habits - whereas genetic factors also play a role (according to twin studies, the determination of obesity is 70% nature and 30% nurture).

Novel cancer treatment options

During a gathering of clinicians, scientists and economists at this year's Medical Technology Congress (Treffpunkt für Medizintechnik) held in Berlin's Charité Hospital, all 17 lectures focused on cancer treatments. Bettina Döbereiner reports

Spotlight Cholesterol: the role of diet, statins and genetics

The inverse epidemiological association between serum levels of HDL-C and risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) is graded and has been validated in multiple studies. However, there is remaining controversy whether a low HDL-C should not predominantly be considered a marker of poor lifestyle (obesity, lack of exercise, hypertriglyceridemia, diet, etc.), rather than a primary causal agent for…

Happiness causes cancer?

Reseacher from the Univerisity of Zürich discovered a new function of the “happiness hormone”, serotonin. It boosts the growing of colon cancer by enhancing the vascular development of tumors.

Awards for TB study organisation

In 2005, former German Chancellor Schröder and Russian President Putin agreed on a strategic partnership to give infectious disease control the highest priority.

MR contrast agents: A step up from compartmental to targeted imaging

Andrea Martini and Joerg Larsen, of the Institute for Roentgendiagnostics, Braunschweig Teaching Hospitals, Germany, discuss nanotechnology, hybrid imaging and the quest for a personalised medicine.

Cardiovascular molecular imaging - is it ready for internal medicine diagnostics?

Imaging in Internal Medicine is among the main topics for 114th Congress of the German Society of Internal Medicine (March. Wiesbaden). Specialists in internal medicine, radiologists, and nuclear medicine have developed a programme that will not only provide an overview of the values of modern imaging procedures but also tackle controversial subjects.

MRI: Diagnosis of arteriosclerosis and plaque imaging

The spatial-anatomic visualisation offered by MRI already provides immense diagnostic possibilities for cardiology. However, as yet, the potential of this imaging modality is far from exploited, according to Professor Bernd Hamm (right), of the Radiology Department at the Charité Hospital, Berlin. Daniela Zimmermann of European Hospital, asked him why.