Glioblastoma is one of the most ominous brain tumors. Despite aggressive surgery, radiation and chemotherapy the outcome of this disease is almost always fatal. A UZH research team has now achieved success with a novel form of treatment that involves encouraging the body's own immune system to recognise and eliminate cancer cells in the brain. Animal experiments show that it is relatively easy to treat cancer in the early stages. However, it is far more difficult to successfully treat advanced cancer. Treatment of brain tumors is particularly challenging because regulatory T-cells accumulate in brain tumors and suppress an immune attack.
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Key organisations unite to improve benefit & risk assessments of vaccines
Leading organisations have joined forces to launch a unique project that will pave the way for a pan-European framework for rapidly assessing and communicating the benefits and risks of vaccines. Such a framework would make it easier for regulators and public health authorities to make fast, more informed decisions regarding vaccination strategies, and help to maintain public confidence in immunisation, particularly when questions are raised about the safety of specific vaccines.
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New materials with potential biomedical applications
Bisphosphonates are a group of compounds that have become well-known and are extensively used as drugs for treating bone-related diseases, such as osteoporosis. New uses for bisphosphonates were discovered, as their ability to form physical gels in pure water was reported for the first time in a recent study performed in collaboration with the Universities of Jyväskylä and Eastern Finland. The gelation tendencies of four bisphosphonates were studied in detail under the baton of Academy Research Fellow Elina Sievänen and her group at Department of Chemistry of University of Jyväskylä. Moreover, the structures of the formed gels were investigated in detail by a wide selection of methods.
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Protein coding 'junk genes' may be linked to cancer
By using a new analysis method, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) in Sweden have found close to one hundred novel human gene regions that code for proteins. A number of these regions are so-called pseudogenes, which may be linked to cancer. The expectation is now that this recently developed protein analysis method, published in the scientific journal Nature Methods, will open up a whole new field of research.
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New technique for developing drugs to treat serious illnesses
An international team of researchers led by the University of Leicester has "harnessed the power of evolution" to create a new drug for possible use against heart disease, inflammation and other illnesses. Researchers in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and Department of Biochemistry at the University of Leicester, together with colleagues in Cambridge, the USA and Italy, have employed a new technique to create protein-based drugs.
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MRC Technology and Oxford University collaborate to develop novel pain therapeutics for migraine
MRC Technology, a technology transfer organisation, announced today it is collaborating with Dr Zameel Cader at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, to screen selective and potent potassium channel activators to develop novel therapeutic interventions in migraine. Drawing on MRC Technology's commercialisation expertise in drug discovery, the project focusses on bringing to clinic more effective pain treatments arising from the work of Dr Cader's group in identifying KCNK18, the first gene underlying typical migraine.
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Retrofitted protein opens door for safer gene therapy
Gene therapy involves inserting healthy genetic material into a diseased cell. Using a carrier derived from a retrovirus, the genetic material is smuggled into a human cell where, once inside, it integrates itself into the cell's DNA. But gene therapy is not without risks. If integrated too near a carcinogenic gene, the newly introduced genetic material can also induce disease-causing mutations. In gene therapy, the delivery vehicle is not the retrovirus itself, but a viral vector: a derivative form of the retrovirus that retains its proteins but not its DNA. One of the most widely used viral vectors is derived from MLV.
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