Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors in adults. Among them, the high-grade glioblastomas (GBMs) are particularly known to be notoriously aggressive and invasive, which makes it challenging to treat them. The disease rapidly progresses to an advanced stage in a short span of time, and the survival of […]
The results of a study by an international scientific team co-led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest that—like pouring water atop a wellhead before pumping—the airway cells of patients with chronic lung diseases are “primed” for infection by the COVID-19 virus, resulting […]
Long considered ‘junk,” non-coding RNAs have emerged as important regulators of diverse cellular processes, including the silencing of genes. Working in yeast, researchers from the Bühler group have identified more than 20 mutations that enable RNA-mediated gene silencing. The findings could improve our understanding of the factors that keep gene […]
Mammals have a poor ability to recover after a spinal cord injury, which can result in paralysis. A main reason for this is the formation of a complex scar associated with chronic inflammation that produces a cellular microenvironment blocking tissue repair. Now, a research team led by Leonor Saude, group […]
While vaccines are doing a remarkable job of slowing the COVID-19 pandemic, infected people can still die from severe illness and new medications to treat them have been slow to arise. What kills these patients in the end doesn’t seem to be the virus itself, but an over-reaction of their […]
For the first time, scientists from the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) partner site in Essen/Düsseldorf have discovered stem cells of the hematopoietic system in glioblastomas, the most aggressive form of brain tumor. These hematopoietic stem cells promote division of the cancer cells and at the same time suppress the immune […]
In a recent study testing the effects of exercise on overall metabolism, researchers at Oregon State University found that even a single session of moderate aerobic exercise makes a difference in the cells of otherwise sedentary people. Mitochondria are the part of the cell responsible for the biological process of […]
Proteins control almost all vital processes in our cells. If they do not function correctly, if there is too much or too little of them, this can lead to the development of a variety of diseases including cancer. The associated proteins are therefore also important targets for drug discovery in […]
Approximately 15-to-30 percent of patients with metastatic breast cancer have brain metastasis (BM), with basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) metastasizing to the brain most frequently. The prognosis for BLBC-BM patients is poor, as the blood-brain barrier prevents most therapeutics from reaching the brain. Testing candidate therapies in clinical trials is also […]
Astrocytes—star-shaped cells in the brain that are actively involved in brain function—may play an important role in stuttering, a study led by a University of California, Riverside, expert on stuttering has found. “Our study suggests that treatment with the medication risperidone leads to increased activity of the striatum in persons […]