news 2019

At the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR, affiliated to USI), researchers have discovered two molecules, so far known in the field of treatments against Ewing's sarcoma, which have strong antilymphoma activity, thus proposing clinical studies on patients. The study has been published in the scientific journal Clinical Cancer Research .

Similar to insulin in humans, plants also produce peptide hormones that orchestrate internal processes and responses, including growth, development, and immunity. One of them is RALF23, which belongs to the large family of RALF plant peptides. Notably, the study revealed a novel recognition mechanism for the RALF23 peptide signals by plant receptors.

A herniated disc is painful - and the most frequent cause of spinal surgery. But is the selected treatment always the right one? New research results show that the clinical criteria - the comparison of two static images - are often not sufficient to make the best decision for the patient. Sudden back pain is often caused by a herniated disc.

By studying the effects of gold nanoparticles on the immune cells related to antibody production,  researchers at UNIGE, at Swansea University and at the NCCR "Bio-inspired Materials" are paving the way for more effective vaccines and therapies. Over the past twenty years, the use of nanoparticles in medicine has steadily increased.

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease with a huge impact on global health. More than 200 million people are infected, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers from Swiss TPH, the Natural History Museum London and partner institutions in Zanzibar have published a study on interventions for schistosomiasis elimination in Zanzibar, which found that while schistosomiasis was eliminated as a public health problem in over 90% of the study regions, transmission is not yet interrupted and reinfection occurs.

Researchers at EPFL have developed a hydrogel that offers unrivaled protection against transplanted cell rejection. The School's Technology Transfer Office has licensed the new product to Cell-Caps, a Geneva-based startup specialized in cell encapsulation for treating diabetes. Transplanted tissue often comes under attack from the body's immune system and struggles to survive in the hostile host environment.

Following a stroke, antibodies that inhibit the signaling molecule Nogo-A can help repair blood vessels in the affected brain regions. This also promotes the regaining of motor functions, researchers at the University of Zurich have shown in a mouse model. The study opens up new avenues for treatment.

Certain membrane proteins specialise in transporting molecules out of cells - a problem for the efficacy of cancer medication and antibiotics. An international research team has investigated the transport mechanism of a bacterial membrane protein using an artificially produced antibody fragment. The transport proteins, called ABC exporters, are present, for instance, in the cell membranes of bacteria and in large quantities in cancer cells and are responsible for transporting small molecules out of the cells.

Urolithin A, a metabolite of biomolecules found in pomegranates and other fruits, could help slow certain aging processes. EPFL spin-off Amazentis, in conjunction with EPFL and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, has published a paper Metabolism outlining the results of their clinical trial. It is a fact of life that skeletal muscles begin to lose strength and mass once a person reaches the age of 50.

Natural products, or their close derivatives, make some of our most potent medicines, among which macrocycles with their large carbon-rich ring systems are one class. The size and complexity of macrocycles has made it difficult to emulate and build on Nature's success in the laboratory.

UNIGE researchers have developed a cell co-culture platform that can reproduce a patient's tumour in 3D and test the best treatment combinations for its specific case in just five days. Why doesn't the same treatment work in the same way for every patient? How can a drug's performance be optimised without causing side effects due to an excessive dosage? In an attempt to answer these questions, researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have devised a cell co-culture platform that reproduces a patient's tumour structure in 3D.

Individualized nutrition not only causes hospital patients to consume more protein and calories, but also improves clinical treatment outcomes. This has been demonstrated in a study by researchers from the University of Basel and Aarau Cantonal Hospital in the journal The Lancet. People who struggle to eat and drink properly following an illness are at risk of consuming too little protein and energy.

Radioactive antibodies that target cancer cells are used for medical diagnostics with PET imaging or for targeted radioimmunotherapy. Researchers from the University of Zurich have created a new method for radiolabelling antibodies using UV light. In less than 15 minutes, the proteins are ready-to-use for cancer imaging or therapy.

Researchers at the University of Zurich and from IBM Research have investigated the varying composition of cancer and immune cells in over one hundred breast tumors. They've found that aggressive tumors are often dominated by a single type of tumor cell. If certain immune cells are present as well, an immune therapy could be successful for a specific group of breast cancer patients.

Gait characteristics are sometimes regarded as the sixth vital sign in humans. They serve as a valuable indicator of a person's health, particularly in older adults - so why not measure them? A team of EPFL researchers is taking part in a major European project to design a device that can assess a person's gait more accurately.

Amazentis, an EPFL spin-off based in Innovation Park, announced today that it is entering into a strategic partnership with Nestlé Health Science. The startup plans to develop products based on urolithin A, a promising anti-aging compound. The Fountain of Youth is still the stuff of legend, but the anti-aging compound urolithin A is now one step closer to the market.

Researchers from UNIGE and UNIL demonstrate the efficacy of a well-known antibiotic in treating a particularly fatal form of breast cancer, offering hope for targeted therapy. Of the three major subtypes of breast cancer, the «triple negative» is the most lethal: half of all breast cancer deaths are attributed to it, whereas it accounts for only about 15% of incidences of breast cancer.

It has long been thought that stress contributes to cancer progression. Scientists from the University of Basel and the University Hospital of Basel have deciphered the molecular mechanisms linking breast cancer metastasis with increased stress hormones. In addition, they found that synthetic derivatives of stress hormones, which are frequently used as anti-inflammatory in cancer therapy, decrease the efficacy of chemotherapy.

Phase III study shows close to 9/10 patients who received Cosentyx 300mg achieved clear or almost clear skin during the first 16 weeks of treatment (87%), with rapid onset of relief seen as early as week 3   Results strengthen unique position of Cosentyx as a rapid and long-lasting complete treatment of psoriatic disease, with over 200,000 patients treated worldwide   Data is being presented at the 2019 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annu

Inaccurate tests carried out on tuberculosis patients in developing countries often fail to reliably detect resistance to drugs, leading to incorrect treatment and a higher mortality rate. These are the results of study by an international group of researchers led by a team at the University of Bern published today.