- 2019
- Press releases - 02.04.2019
Narcolepsy: A New Drug to Fight Sleepiness
How can the quality of life of patients with narcolepsy, the severest sleep disorder in humans, be improved? An international scientific team led by Yves Dauvilliers, a researcher at Inserm and Université de Montpellier, is working on Solriamfetol – a promising new drug that stimulates alertness and improves resistance to sleepiness.
- Press releases - 27.03.2019
Nanoblades: shuttles for genome surgery
Researchers are now able to edit the genome with precision using the “gene editing scissors” of CRISPR-Cas9, which is a highly promising tool for gene therapy. The technical challenge now is to get this tool into the genome of certain cells. With this in mind, a joint team from Inserm, the CNRS, the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, working within the International Center for Infectiology Research (CIRI), have developed capsules that allow CRISPR-Cas9 to reach the target DNA: Nanoblades.
- Press releases - 26.03.2019
HIV/tuberculosis co-infection: tunnelling towards better diagnosis
1.2 million people in the world are co-infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria which causes tuberculosis, and AIDS (HIV-1). This combination is deadly: it makes patient diagnosis and treatment difficult, and increases the pathogenicity of these two infectious agents. An international team led by researchers at the CNRS and Inserm have revealed that in the presence of tuberculosis, HIV-1 moves from one cell to the next via nanotubes which form between macrophages, drastically increasing the percentage of infected cells. These findings appear in the 26 March 2019 edition of Cell Reports.
- Press releases - 25.03.2019
A Gene Therapy Tested in the Treatment of Myotubular Myopathy
Inserm and CNRS researchers from the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (Inserm/CNRS/Université de Strasbourg) have discovered how myotubularin – a protein deficient in myotubular myopathy – interacts with amphiphysin 2 and suggest targeting the latter in order to treat patients.
- Press releases - 19.03.2019
Découverte d’une réaction immunitaire cruciale lors de la diversification alimentaire pour prévenir l’apparition des maladies inflammatoires
Les microbes colonisent l’ensemble des surfaces de notre corps et participent au bon équilibre de notre système immunitaire. Chez les nouveau-nés, le microbiote intestinal est d’abord formaté par les composants du lait maternel. Lors de la diversification alimentaire, il se développe et de nombreuses bactéries prolifèrent. Des chercheurs de l’Institut Pasteur et de l’Inserm montrent chez la souris qu’une réponse immunitaire importante se produit lors de l’introduction de nourriture solide et du développement du microbiote. Mais surtout, ils ont montré que cette réaction immunitaire était essentielle car elle participe à l’éducation du système immunitaire, et permet, à l’âge adulte, une faible susceptibilité aux maladies inflammatoires (allergies, colites, maladies auto-immunes, cancer). Ces résultats ont été publiés dans la revue Immunity, le 19 mars 2019.
- Press releases - 14.03.2019
Go for a Run or Eat Chocolate: A Choice Dictated by the Cannabinoid Receptors
Physical inactivity is a common factor in lifestyle diseases – and one that is often linked to the excessive consumption of fatty and/or sugary foods. The opposite scenario of excessive physical activity at the expense of caloric intake can also be harmful, as cases of anorexia nervosa illustrate. These data therefore point to the crucial need to research the neurobiological processes that control the respective motivations for exercise and food intake. A study by Inserm and CNRS researchers published on March 7, 2019 in JCI Insight reveals that the cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptors play an essential role in the choice between running and eating chocolatey food.
- Press releases - 12.03.2019
Metastatic Lung Cancer: A Targeted Therapy to Improve Treatment Efficacy
When faced with the most aggressive forms of lung cancer, how can the efficacy of chemotherapy be increased? Teams from Inserm, Université Paris Descartes and the Paris public hospitals system AP-HP have maybe hit on a solution. They have developed a targeted therapy which aims to improve the response to platinum salts – the standard chemotherapy used in lung cancer – by neutralizing the activity of a receptor that contributes to its aggressiveness. This research, published in Cancer Letters, shows that in mice this therapy restores the response to chemotherapy and reduces the risk of metastasis by one half to two thirds.
- Press releases - 11.03.2019
Jeudi 14 Février : journée mondiale du rein
Selon la fondation du rein, un adulte sur dix souffre d’une affection rénale, soit près de 850 millions de personnes dans le monde. L’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé prévoit une augmentation de la prévalence de la maladie rénale chronique de 17 % dans les 10 ans à venir. L’insuffisance rénale résulte de l’évolution lente de maladies qui conduisent à la destruction des reins. Elle concerne plus de 82 000 personnes en France et nécessite le recours à la dialyse ou à la transplantation. Dans 50% des cas, les maladies rénales chroniques qui conduisent à l’insuffisance rénale sont la conséquence d’un diabète ou d’une hypertension artérielle.
- Press releases - 08.03.2019
Alzheimer’s disease: five new genetic markers identified
Knowledge of the genetic component of Alzheimer’s disease continues to deepen. The aim is not to predict the disease but reveal its pathophysiological mechanisms in order to develop new drugs. At Lille’s Institut Pasteur, an Inserm team led by Jean Charles Lambert within Inserm Unit 1167 “Risk factors and molecular determinants of diseases linked to aging” directed by Philippe Amouyel recently hit a new milestone thanks to the Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP), in which the genomes of 94,000 people were analyzed. This research revealed five new genetic variants linked to the disease.
- Press releases - 05.03.2019
Brain Prize 2019 a French team receives international award for his research on CADASIL, a hereditary cerebrovascular disease
Attribué par la fondation Danoise Lundbeck, le « Brain Prize » est un grand prix international qui récompense des scientifiques pour l’importance de leurs recherches en neurosciences. Il est doté d’un montant d’un million d’euros.
Il met cette année à l’honneur des travaux débutés il y a près de quarante ans par quatre scientifiques français sur CADASIL, une maladie cérébrovasculaire héréditaire, qui provoque crises de migraine, accidents vasculaires cérébraux et déclin cognitif. C’est aujourd’hui la maladie génétique des petits vaisseaux cérébraux la plus fréquemment diagnostiquée.