- 2022
- Press releases - 16.03.2022
Child Malnutrition: New Strategy Treats More Children at Lower Cost
In a new study, researchers from Inserm and Université de Bordeaux at the Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, in collaboration with the Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and the NGO ALIMA (The Alliance for International Medical Action), have developed and tested a new strategy to simplify and optimize the treatment of malnutrition in order to help a larger number of children.
- Press releases - 14.03.2022
MICA: A New Immune Response Gene That Predicts Kidney Transplant Failure
Researchers report that the MICA gene is a new histocompatibility gene, in that it helps to better explain and predict the success or failure of a kidney transplant. Their findings have been published in Nature Medicine.
- Press releases - 10.03.2022
Exposure to Air Pollution Linked to Increased Risk of Poor Cognitive Performance
Researchers from Inserm, Université de Rennes 1 and the EHESP School of Public Health at Irset wished to identify the impact on cognitive performance of three pollutants linked to road traffic (fine particles of less than 2.5 microns in diameter, nitrogen dioxide and black carbon). They compared the results of cognitive tests performed by a large sample of people according to their level of exposure to these different pollutants. The results of the study suggest a link between exposure to higher levels of pollutants and lower levels of cognitive performance, a link which differs depending on the pollutants.
- Press releases - 01.03.2022
Significant Increase in Infant Mortality in France
The infant mortality rate (IMR) is a key indicator of population health. Researchers analyzed civil registry data from the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) from 2001 to 2019. They identified a significant increase in the IMR since 2012, thereby setting France apart from other high-income countries.
- Press releases - 24.02.2022
Discovery of an innate immunological memory in the intestine
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm discovered that innate effector cells – group 3 innate lymphoid cells – act not only during the early stages of infection but can also be trained to develop an innate form of immunological memory that can protect the host during reinfection.
- Press releases - 24.02.2022
Better Understanding the Role of a White Blood Cell Type in SARS-CoV-2 Immune Response
Researchers describe how basophils respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection. They show that exposure to the virus activates them, leading to the production of certain cytokines and helping to reduce inflammation and promote the secretion of antibodies.
- Press releases - 21.02.2022
Transplantation chemotherapy eliminates regenerative capacity of brain’s innate immune cells
Annually over 50,000 bone marrow transplantations occur worldwide as a therapy for multiple cancerous and non-cancerous diseases. Yet, how this procedure gives rise to bone marrow-derived cells that engraft the brain, despite being absent in the normal brain, remains unknown. Scientists discovered how the host’s microglia, the brain’s innate immune cells, are replaced by bone marrow-derived macrophages. The key discovery was that transplantation chemotherapy eliminated the microglia’s regenerative capacity, gradually causing the engraftment of macrophages to replace microglia, providing a potential mechanism for future cell-based therapies to treat central nervous system diseases.
- Press releases - 17.02.2022
Defeating leukaemia cells by depriving them of energy
A Swiss-French team that includes UNIGE scientists has discovered how to trigger apoptosis in leukaemia cells by disrupting their energy maintenance mechanism.
- Press releases - 11.02.2022
A Novel Immunotherapy Approach Redirects Epstein-Barr Antibodies toward Disease-Causing Cells
Monoclonal antibody therapy can be very effective in treating numerous illnesses, such as cancers, chronic inflammatory conditions, and infectious diseases. Researchers from Inserm, Université de Paris, Sorbonne Université and CNRS1 have designed and tested a new immunotherapy approach that uses pre-existing antibodies directed against the Epstein-Barr virus – part of the herpes family of viruses and present in over 95% of the world’s population – in order to target and destroy pathogenic (disease-causing) cells. Their findings have recently been published in a study in Science Advances.
- Press releases - 10.02.2022
A Gene Therapy Studied in Steinert’s Disease
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) or Steinert’s disease is a rare and debilitating genetic neuromuscular disease affecting multiple organs and with a fatal outcome. No treatment is available at present. Encouraged by previous research into its molecular causes, researchers have developed and tested a promising gene therapy that acts directly at the origin of the disease. Initial findings show correction of molecular and physiological alterations in mouse skeletal muscle1.