Published in the journal Nature Cancer, the study analyses how genetic alterations in tumour cells prevent the correct degradation of the proteins involved in tumour development and growth, thereby leading to abnormal cell behaviour.
A machine-learning model has allowed the scientists to obtain the most extensive annotation of the ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation system.
The analysis proposes a potential new clinical approach for cancer through the inhibition of oncoproteins with impaired degradation systems.
Scientists at IRB Barcelona determine the genetic alterations in the cells of cancer patients caused by the main cancer therapies.
This is an important step towards understanding the long-term side effects and optimizing treatments against cancer.
The results have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Both transcription factors regulate the expression of genes involved in embryo development, among other functions, although they exert very different roles.
The study also refutes the theory accepted to date that SMAD2 does not bind to DNA.
Published in Genes & Development, the research is the result of collaboration between Maria J. Macias’ lab at IRB Barcelona and Joan Massagué’s group at the Sloan Kettering Institute (New York, US).
Using machine learning, researchers have built a tool that detects genetic mutations that trigger the immune system, helping identify which cancer patients are more likely to benefit from immunotherapy
The algorithm also reveals which people living with hereditary diseases may benefit from drugs that already exist
The new technology’s potential is described today in Nature Genetics by researchers at IRB Barcelona, the Centre for Genomic Regulation and Radboud University
Scientists shed light on how the genome organizes groups of genes linked to specific processes, like the release of toxins
They carried out a study on fungi and found more than 11,000 gene families grouped together or near each other in the genome
The results are published today in the journal Nature Microbiology
Researchers at IRB Barcelona and IAL Santa Fe in Argentina have found the cell-signalling factor TNFα to be critical for coordinated organ growth in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Regulated by the tumour suppressor p53, TNFα enables the tissue to detect and reverse growth defects.
These findings allow researchers to better understand tissue development better, and they are also relevant for diseases such as cancer.
Two studies by IRB Barcelona and IBMB-CSIC published in Nature Communications reveal the portal structure of the Epstein-Barr virus and bacteriophage T7.
No treatment is currently available for the infection caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, which, in addition to causing mononucleosis, leads to various types of cancer.
The studies were done in collaboration with CNB-CSIC and the University of Oxford.
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.
