Both sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia are genetic disorders that affect hemoglobin, and as such are categorized as beta-hemoglobinopathies. A team of scientists from Inserm, Université Paris Cité and the Paris Public Hospitals Group AP-HP at the Imagine Institute has shown the efficacy of a gene therapy approach to treat these two disorders. The principle is to reactivate in patients the production of fetal hemoglobin, a protein whose expression...
An international consortium has identified rare variants in two new genes that markedly increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The work was led by two research groups in France (headed respectively by Gaël Nicolas, Rouen and Jean-Charles Lambert, Lille) and a group in the Netherlands (headed by Henne Holstege, Amsterdam). The new results provide a better understanding of the genetics of AD and open up new research...
People with liver disease caused by eating too much sugar and fat could be at increased risk of developing serious neurological conditions like depression or dementia. In a study examining the link between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and brain dysfunction, scientists at the Roger Williams Institute of Hepatology, affiliated to King’s College London and the University of La²usanne, found an accumulation of fat in the liver causes a...
Cisplatin is a chemotherapy indicated to fight tumors in many types of cancer. However, it does have major side effects – especially kidney toxicity, that can lead to acute kidney failure. In addition, patients treated with cisplatin also often report high levels of neuropathic pain. Scientists from Inserm, Université de Lille, University Hospital Lille, CNRS and Institut Pasteur de Lille within the CANTHER and Lille Neuroscience & Cognition laboratories,...
In a new study, scientists from Inserm and Université de Montpellier at the Montpellier Cancer Research Institute, in collaboration with Montpellier University Hospital, have highlighted the possible role of the dysregulation of a part of the innate immune defense. They suggest that the production of "extracellular neutrophil traps", a first-line defense mechanism against pathogens, could play a role in the persistence of symptoms six months later in patients having...
The ANRS DOXYVAC trial, conducted by a research team from the Paris public hospitals group (AP-HP), Université Paris Cité, Inserm and Sorbonne Université in collaboration with AIDES and Coalition PLUS, demonstrates the efficacy of both a meningococcal B vaccine in reducing the risk of gonorrhea infection and the use of doxycycline as preventive intervention for sexually transmitted infections when taken within 72h after sexual intercourse.
Meditation as a tool to prevent dementia and improve the mental health and well-being of elderly people is one of the avenues explored by the European Medit-Ageing research program, coordinated by Inserm. As part of this program, researchers from Inserm and Université de Caen Normandie, in collaboration with French and European teams, observed the impact of 18 months of meditation training on certain brain structures involved in regulating attention and...
Children born prematurely have a higher risk of not just cognitive and sensory disorders, but also infertility in adulthood. In a new study, a team of researchers from Inserm, University Hospital Lille and Université de Lille at the Lille Neuroscience and Cognition laboratory has opened up interesting avenues for improving their prognosis. By conducting research into a rare disease known as congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, the scientists have discovered the...
An Inserm team at the Lille Neuroscience & Cognition laboratory (Inserm/Université de Lille, Lille University Hospital) has joined forces with its counterparts at Vaudois University Hospital (CHUV, Lausanne) to test the efficacy of GnRH injection therapy in order to improve the cognitive functions of a small group of patients with Down syndrome. First the scientists revealed a dysfunction of the GnRH neurons in an animal model of Down syndrome...
Preeclampsia is a condition that affects the placenta during pregnancy and is dangerous for both the fetus and the mother. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm and the CNRS have proposed a new therapy, tested in two rodent models, that corrects the defects identified in placental cells, and restores placental and fetal weight. The treatment […]
