PNAS publishes a study by the team headed by ICREA research professor Lluís Ribas. The study demonstrates that transfer RNA genes are expressed in a differential manner in human tissue in order to form smaller fragments, whose function is still unknown.
Understanding the biological function of these fragments and the key role that the transfer RNA gene plays in the regulation of their levels will pave the way to improve, alter or inhibit their activity.
The team headed by ICREA researcher, Lluís Ribas, has published a study in Cell Report describing a functional network that coordinates protein synthesis and DNA replication in animal mitochondria.
These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms involved in mitochondrial dysregulation associated with diseases such as MELAS and MERRF and may help to identify new therapeutic approaches.
The study reveals the opening and closing mechanism of the portal protein during the maturation of the viral capsid, the structure that carries the genetic material of the virus.
The researchers have combined cryomicroscopy and crystallography techniques to study these viruses that infect bacteria.
An understanding of the molecular basis of differences in the incidence and survival of cancer between men and women may allow the discovery of specific and more effective treatments.
The study, published in Science Advances, compares the brain tumours of male and female flies at the molecular level and identifies proteins responsible for the different degree of aggressiveness.
Activation of the chaperone protein Hsp70 leads to a decrease in the formation of androgen receptor aggregates, which give rise to muscular atrophy in patients with Kennedy´s disease, a rare condition for which no treatment is available.
The results may also be useful in the search for a treatment for castration-resistant prostate cancer, a disease that causes 30,000 death a year in Europe and for which there is no treatment.
The study, which has been published in Nature Communications, is a collaboration with the University of California San Francisco and the University of Michigan.
Ángel R. Nebreda’s team (IRB Barcelona) publishes a study in the journal Nature Communications addressing the role of the p38 protein in angiogenesis—the formation of new blood vessels—a critical process that fuels tumour cells and allows them to grow and eventually develop metastases.
A greater understanding of how new blood vessel formation is regulated could help to improve chemotherapy treatments for cancer, as well as to develop more efficient angiogenic therapies for other diseases.
In a study published in Cell Reports,the scientists inhibited the capacity of RAS to block cell death, thus eliminating malignant tumours without affecting the development of organs.
The results of the study pave the way to combining irradiation treatments with the administration of RAS pathway inhibitors to eliminate tumour cells.
Modesto Orozco’s lab (IRB Barcelona) has published a study on the reaction mechanism of DNAzymes in Nature Catalysis.
DNAzymes, which are catalysers formed by DNA, have applications in biomedicine and biotechnology. These research results will contribute to advances in the design and improvement of catalysers for therapeutic purposes.
Modesto Orozco’s laboratory (IRB Barcelona) has published a study on the source of asymmetry between nucleic acid hybrid (RNA and DNA) in CHEM (Cell Press).
The results are a promising step towards enhancing gene therapies, which are applicable to many diseases.
Kennedy’s disease is an untreatable neuromuscular disorder considered a rare disease
A study led by Xavier Salvatella may pave the way for new lines of treatment for Kennedy’s disease
