Inserm Newsroom - Press room of the French national institute of health and medical research

Listeria: hypervirulent strains with cerebral and placental tropism

Researchers from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, CNRS and Paris Descartes – Sorbonne Paris Cité University recently published a large-scale study in Nature Genetics based on almost 7,000 strains of Listeria monocytogenes — the bacterium responsible for human listeriosis, a severe foodborne infection. Through the integrative analysis of epidemiological, clinical and microbiological data, the researchers have revealed the highly diverse pathogenicity of isolates belonging to this bacterial species.

Comparative genomics led them to discover new virulence factors, which were demonstrated experimentally as involved in cerebral and fetal-placental listeriosis. In addition, this research points to the importance of using new reference strains, which are representative of the hypervirulent lineages identified here, for experimental research on Listeria monocytogenes pathogenesis.

Thursday 4 February 2016: World Cancer Day

  This international campaign is a reminder of the seriousness of cancer, a major cause of death worldwide, leading to 8.2 million deaths in 2012.[1] According to WHO, the annual number of new cases is expected to rise from 14 million in 2012 to 22 million in the next two decades. Inserm researchers devote themselves […]

Erectile dysfunction following treatment for prostate cancer: promising results from the first transplants of stem cells into the penis

12 patients suffering from severe erectile dysfunction following prostate cancer received a transplant of stem cells into the penis. After six months, significant improvements in the quality of sexual intercourse, erection, penile rigidity and quality of orgasm were reported by the patients, according to a study by Inserm. This clinical trial was conducted under the direction of Professor René Yiou at the Department of Urology, Henri Mondor University Hospital, Paris Public Hospitals (AP-HP), Créteil.

These results are published in the journal European Urology.

The launch of a European Alliance dedicated to accelerating new concepts in HIV Vaccine research

The European Commission has granted over 22 million Euros to the European HIV Vaccine Alliance (EHVA) to develop a multidisciplinary platform to evaluate novel preventive and therapeutic vaccines.

Treating depressive symptoms from their roots

A wide range of compounds is on the market to ameliorate depressive symptoms, however their efficiency is achieved only after long periods of treatment and not in 100% of patients. Inserm researchers identified early cellular changes in the brain for the emergence of depressive symptoms, and a novel promising drug target. These results are published […]

A radiosensitivity test for predicting sequelae following radiotherapy

Researchers at Inserm Unit 1194, “Montpellier Cancer Research Institute” (Inserm/University of Montpellier/Montpellier Regional Cancer Institute) have confirmed the value of a new test to identify cancer patients who will be free of sequelae following radiotherapy. This test, conducted on a blood sample taken from 500 breast cancer patients, treated in 10 centres in France, and monitored for 3 years, showed that women with a high rate of radiation-induced lymphocyte apoptosis (RILA) had a very low rate of late breast fibrosis. These results, which are published in EBioMedicine, suggest that personalisation of curative intent radiotherapy could be considered, with tailoring of the radiation dose delivered to the patient and the radiotherapy technique employed.

10th European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week

Initiated by ECCA (European Cervical Cancer Association), this campaign, which will run from 24 to 30 January next, is aimed at raising awareness among the general public and health professionals about cervical cancer prevention and screening.

10th European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week

  In France, this cancer affects nearly 3,000 women, and causes over 1,100 deaths each year. There are two complementary levers for preventing and detecting the disease, the cervical smear test for women aged 25 to 65 years, and vaccination against HPV. According to the French National Cancer Institute (INCa), nearly 90% of cervical cancers […]

Treating intestinal pain with bacteria

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is an intestinal bacterium that is abundant in healthy adults but scarce in those suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. Using a mouse model, a team of scientists from INRA, INSERM, and the University of Auvergne has discovered that the bacterium possesses analgesic properties, a finding just published in Scientific Reports (January 18, 2016).Given that F. prausnitzii also exhibits anti-inflammatory effects, the bacterium shows great promise as a tool for improving human health and well-being

An oxygen mask to prevent sequelae from stroke?

And if a simple oxygen mask were to protect people from neurological sequelae following an acute stroke? It would be sufficient to administer it to patients during the interval needed by medical teams to restore the blood supply, and hence oxygen, to the brain. At any rate, this is the hypothesis formulated by Jean-Claude Baron, Inserm Research Director at Unit 894, “Psychiatry and Neurosciences Research Center,” in collaboration with English and German researchers. Work done in animals so far shows that this very simple intervention almost completely prevents neuronal loss, and completely prevents sensorimotor deficits following a stroke.