Schlagwort: blood
An increase in blood-sucking black flies is expected in Germany
23. Februar 2024
The habitat suitability for the medical relevant insects has been modelled over four federal states
New mechanism for regulating cell division in the bacterial pathogen Klebsiella uncovered
21. Februar 2024
Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the most common and most dangerous bacterial pathogens impacting humans, causing infections of the gastrointestinal tract, pneumonia, wound infections and even blood poisoning. With the aim of discovering therapeutically exploitable weaknesses in Klebsiella, a research team from the Balance of the Microverse Cluster of Excellence at the University of Jena, Germany has taken a close look at the molecular biology of the bacteria and was able to uncover the importance of a small, non-coding ribonucleic acid (sRNA for short) for the gene regulation of K. pneumoniae. They report their findings in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.
New growth factor for the liver
6. Februar 2024
A healthy liver is capable of completely regenerating itself. Researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD) and the German Diabetes Center (DDZ) have now identified the growth factor MYDGF (Myeloid-Derived Growth Factor), which is important for this regenerative capacity. In cooperation with the Hannover Medical School and the University Medical Center Mainz, they also showed that higher levels of MYDGF can be detected in the blood of patients following partial removal of the liver. In the scientific journal Nature Communications, they also report that this growth factor stimulates the proliferation of human hepatocytes in a tissue culture.
Complement System Causes Cell Damage in Long Covid
19. Januar 2024
Long Covid patients suffer from chronic symptoms such as fatigue or shortness of breath. As researchers at the University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich have discovered, this is to some extent due to a part of our immune system called the complement system. The study identified a pattern in the blood proteins that will improve the diagnosis and perhaps also the targeted treatment of Long Covid.
Incurable autoimmune disease SLE: New genetic findings open up perspectives for future therapeutic approaches
13. Januar 2024
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system that normally protects the body from invading microbes, turns against the body´s own cells. This autoimmune attack can affect any organ and patients commonly develop skin rashes, joint inflammation, blood clots, kidney failure, heart disease, fatigue and psychiatric problems. Until to date, there is no cure for SLE and patients are treated with immunosuppressing drugs with considerable side effects.
New Microscope: ComplexEye and AI Enable Faster Migration Analysis of Immune Cells
11. Dezember 2023
Immune cells fight infectious intruders, for example, or search for incipient cancers. Therefor, they are constantly migrating through the tissues of our body. But in the wrong place, immune cells like neutrophil granulocytes can cause damage: If these white blood cells infiltrate tumours, this is often associated with a poor prognosis for patients. This is why they could benefit from drugs that prevent neutrophils from migrating into tumours. Until now, this migration has been investigated using conventional video microscopy. Researchers (University of Duisburg-Essen, Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften) have developed a microscope for the high throughput analysis of compounds.
When the heart loses its nerves
29. August 2023
How do nerves and blood vessels interact in the aging heart? Recent research results from the Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration and the Cardio-Pulmonary Institute at Goethe University Frankfurt shed new light on aging processes in the heart. These have now been published in the prestigious journal Science.
Modifiable risk factors responsible for half of cardiovascular diseases
26. August 2023
Scientists of the Global Cardiovascular Risk Consortium under the auspices of the Department of Cardiology at the University Heart & Vascular Center of the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) have proven that the five classic cardiovascular risk factors overweight, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, and diabetes mellitus are directly connected to more than half of all cardiovascular diseases worldwide. High blood pressure is the most significant factor for the occurrence of heart attacks and strokes.
Research Grants Endowed with €240,000
8. August 2023
The application period for the DKMS John Hansen Research Grant 2024 began on August 1, 2023. With this grant, the foundation DKMS Stiftung Leben Spenden supports up to four outstanding research projects in the field of stem cell transplantation or cell therapy each year. A stem cell transplant saves the lives of many blood cancer patients. However, relapses and severe complications continue to pose major challenges. The grant is intended to promote excellent science in this field. The application deadline is November 30, 2023.
Immune Cells in Single File
18. Juli 2023
There is news from the immune system: Dendritic cells migrate in a network along the outside of blood vessels. Local cytokines keep this dynamic network stable.
Infection with common cold coronaviruses can trigger broad cross-immunity against SARS-CoV-2 proteins
17. Mai 2023
Researchers at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf have demonstrated cross-reactive immune responses to another SARS-CoV-2 protein besides the spike protein. The research team found a broad immune system T cell response to the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of SARS-CoV-2 in blood samples from COVID patients as well as from subjects who were never infected with SARS-CoV-2. The T cells of the never-infected probands presumably arose from previous infection with other common cold coronaviruses and cross-reacted with the SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase in the tests.
Human Immune Cells React to Non-Nutritive Sweeteners
16. Mai 2023
Diet drinks often contain a mix of non-nutritive sweeteners that also enter the bloodstream after consumption. As a new pilot study shows, even dietary intake levels of saccharin, acesulfame-K and cyclamate are enough to modulate the copy rate of various genes in white blood cells. „Our data suggest that this modulation sensitizes immune cells to certain immune stimuli,“ says Dietmar Krautwurst of the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich. He adds: “Likewise, they also suggest that taste receptors may act as sweetener sensors of the cellular immune system.”
Putting an end to rheumatoid arthritis?
10. Mai 2023
Immunoglobulin G antibodies (IgB) play an important role as drivers of inflammation in infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. However, if the same immunoglobulin antibodies from the blood plasma of healthy donors are cleansed and injected into a patient’s bloodstream, they exhibit anti-inflammatory effects and have a positive effect on the immune system. The cause of this was unknown to a large extent up to now.
The Paradox of Thrombosis
14. April 2023
Bears in hibernation and also paraplegic people spend months or even years lying almost motionless. In healthy people, however, bedriddenness is always accompanied by the risk of thrombosis. A paradox, but nevertheless an everyday occurrence. This contradiction has now been investigated by an international research team led by Matthias Mann, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, and PD Dr. med. Tobias Petzold, cardiologist at the LMU Hospital Munich. They found a mechanism that occurs in brown bears, as well as paraplegics, and that prevents the formation of blood clots. This discovery could open up new therapeutic options. The results were published in the journal Science.
World’s first studies with bedside portable MRI in pediatric ECMO patients
6. April 2023
Neonatology team of the University Hospital Bonn publishes findings
Bonn, April 5, 2023 – The neonatology team at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) has conducted the world’s first study of children receiving ECMO therapy using the mobile magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The procedure, known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), involves oxygenating the blood outside the body. The findings of the successful, innovative study of the first four pediatric ECMO patients using the mobile MRI has now been published in the prestigious journal Critical Care.
Using bone marrow precursor cells instead of transplantation
31. März 2023
Bone is the second most commonly transplanted tissue after blood, with about two million bone transplants performed worldwide each year – but often with only moderate therapeutic success. Cell-based therapies could provide an alternative approach to transplantation. Together with colleagues from Paracelsus Medical Private University (PMU) Salzburg, researchers at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) have now demonstrated that human progenitor cells can regenerate large bone defects and form new mineralized tissue. The researchers have published the findings from their work in the journal Science Translational Medicine*.
Cause of leukaemia in trisomy 21
10. März 2023
People with a third copy of chromosome 21, known as trisomy 21, are at high risk of developing Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), an aggressive form of blood cancer. Scientists led by the Department of Paediatrics at University Hospital Frankfurt have now identified the cause: although the additional chromosome 21 leads to increased gene dosage of many genes, it is above all the perturbation of the RUNX1 gene – a gene that regulates many other genes – that seems to be responsible for AML pathogenesis. Targeting the perturbed regulator could pave the way for new therapies.
Successful cure of HIV infection after stem cell transplantation
21. Februar 2023
Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of severe blood cancers is the only medical intervention that has cured two people living with HIV in the past. An international group of physicians and researchers from Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and the United States has now identified another case in which HIV infection has been shown to be cured in the same way. In a study published this week in Nature Medicine, in which DZIF scientists from Hamburg and Cologne played a leading role, the successful healing process of this third patient was for the first time characterised in great detail virologically and immunologically over a time span of ten years.
Pungent Ginger Compound Puts Immune Cells on Heightened Alert
14. Februar 2023
Ginger has a reputation for stimulating the immune system. New results from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (Leibniz-LSB@TUM) now support this thesis. In laboratory tests, small amounts of a pungent ginger constituent put white blood cells on heightened alert. The study also shows that this process involves a type of receptor that plays a role in the perception of painful heat stimuli and the sensation of spiciness in food.
New insights into the genetic basis of leukemia
25. Januar 2023
Kiel research team discovers links between certain gene mutation and the spatial structure of DNA in blood cancer at an advanced age
In the core of the cell: New insights into the utilization of nanotechnology-based drugs.
21. Januar 2023
Novel drugs, such as vaccines against covid-19, among others, are based on drug transport using nanoparticles. Whether this drug transport is negatively influenced by an accumulation of blood proteins on the nanoparticle’s surface was not clarified for a long time. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have now followed the path of such a particle into a cell using a combination of several microscopy methods. They were able to observe a cell-internal process that effectively separates blood components and nanoparticles.
Long COVID study: blood values indicate reprogramming of immune cells
19. Januar 2023
The underlying mechanisms of long COVID are not yet fully understood. Molecular clues to different subgroups of long COVID have now been provided by a research group at University Medicine Halle.
Why do blood and lymphatic vessels grow unchecked? ERC Starting Grant for René Hägerling
25. November 2022
Anomalies in the formation of blood and lymphatic vessels are, thankfully, rare. Those who do have them face a lifetime of complications that can range from the mild to the life-threatening. To date, little is known about the causes, which means the diagnostic and treatment options are very limited. René Hägerling of the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) has made it his mission to remedy this. His good ideas have won the regard of the European Research Council (ERC), which has awarded Hägerling, who leads a junior research group, an ERC Starting Grant of €1.5 million over five years.
The Influenza Virus and Its Influence on Blood Stem Cells and Coagulation
19. Oktober 2022
Virus-induced respiratory infections can become life-threatening. A team at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, together with researchers in Heidelberg, have discovered that flu virus infection limited to the lungs also leads to the activation of blood stem cells and the increased formation of platelets. Platelets can cause thrombosis, as has been shown in severe cases of COVID-19. The messenger substances interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 are involved in the activation. Cell Reports chronicles the results in its online edition from 4 October 2022.
Type 1 diabetes: New findings on the development of the autoimmune disease in children
18. Oktober 2022
Study provides novel insights on dynamics of blood sugar levels and autoimmunity in early childhood: When and why does type 1 diabetes manifest in children? For the first time, researchers conducted a long-term study on infants and young children with increased genetic risk of type 1 diabetes. The results have now been published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The authors provide a unique picture of the dynamics of blood sugar regulation during early childhood and its relationship to the development of autoimmunity.