- 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. -
Press releases - 26.02.2019
Behind a Rare Disease: A Gut Sensitive to the Cold and Intolerant of its Own Bacteria
A mechanism of tolerance towards intestinal flora is thought to be implicated in the onset of a rare familial autoinflammatory disease induced by cold temperatures. This is the finding of researchers from the Center for Infection and Immunity of Lille (Inserm/Université de Lille/CNRS/University Hospital Lille/Institut Pasteur de Lille), the Pathophysiology of Pediatric Genetic Diseases laboratory (Inserm/Sorbonne Université) and the Department of Immunology at the University of Hohenheim. Their research, published in Nature Communications, reveals the implication in its onset of an exacerbated inflammatory response against the gut flora, making for a more effective immune response against certain pathogens.
-
Press releases - 25.02.2019
Expertise caregivers helps improve patient diagnosis in altered state of consciousness
Hospital teams Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital AP-HP, Inserm and the Institute of the brain and spinal cord – AP-HP / CNRS / Inserm / University-Sorbonne showed appreciation caregivers (nurses and nursing auxiliaries) for the state of consciousness of patients represented a real added value to medical and electrophysiological exams and conventional brain imaging diagnostics.
-
Press releases - 21.02.2019
Syndrome Temple and Silver Russell understanding of epigenetic mechanisms regulating fetal growth
A team Sorbonne / AP-HP / Inserm, led by Professor Irene Netchine, physiology professor at Sorbonne University and pediatrician at the Hospital Armand Trousseau AP-HP, studied the molecular mechanisms of the clinical similarity between syndrome Temple and Russell Silver syndrome. Their study, published in Science Advances , highlights the importance of gene network concept “imprinted” in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with these rare syndromes.
-
Press releases - 18.02.2019
Gene therapy durably reverses congenital deafness in mice
In collaboration with the universities of Miami, Columbia and San Francisco, scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, CNRS, Collège de France, Sorbonne University and the University of Clermont Auvergne have managed to restore hearing in an adult mouse model of DFNB9 deafness – a hearing disorder that represents one of the most frequent cases of congenital genetic deafness. Individuals with DFNB9 deafness are profoundly deaf as they are deficient in the gene coding for otoferlin, a protein which is essential for transmitting sound information at the auditory sensory cell synapses. By carrying out an intracochlear injection of this gene in an adult DFNB9 mouse model, the scientists successfully restored auditory synapse function and hearing thresholds to a near-normal level. These findings, published in the journal PNAS, open up new avenues for future gene therapy trials in patients with DFNB9.
-
Press releases - 15.02.2019
Successful In Utero Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in a Fetus with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency
Teams from the Biological Therapy Department and Pediatric Immunohematology Unit at Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital AP-HP, the Fetal Medicine Department at Trousseau Hospital AP-HP, Inserm, the Imagine Institute, Université Paris Descartes and Sorbonne Université have achieved the in utero transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells in a fetus with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency.