A study on breast cancer conducted at IRB Barcelona identifies the key role of p38 in safeguarding tumour cells against the excessive accumulation of DNA damage, which would otherwise cause cell death.
p38 blockage has been shown to increase the death of tumour cells, thus causing tumours to shrink.
The combination of p38 inhibitors with chemotherapeutic drugs (taxanes) strengthens, accelerates or prolongs the antitumour effect in patient-derived tumours grown in mice.
For the scientific community, the protein POP (prolyl oligopeptidase) is an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of cognitive and neurodegenerative disorders.
Scientists at IRB Barcelona have developed the first POP inhibitors that are irreversible, selective and brain-permeable.
The study, published in The Journal of Cell Biology, focuses on the development of the sperm tail, the structure that enables sperm cells to swim and is therefore critical for male fertility.
Researchers at IRB Barcelona discover the mechanism that leads to a less harmful form of obesity that is associated with the number rather than volume of fat cells.
There are several types of obesity and some are more harmful than others.
The study has been published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
A study headed by IRB Barcelona provides the first direct evidence of beta-amyloid dimers (two proteins joined together) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and points to the potential of these molecules as biomarkers.
Beta-amyloid dimers may be the smallest pathological species that trigger Alzheimer’s disease.
The new study analyses the dysfunction of basolateral transporters through a transgenic animal model.
This study is led by Manuel Palacín from IRB Barcelona and Virgínia Nunes from IDIBELL.
A study performed at IRB Barcelona supports the notion that mitochondrial defects underlie a set of diseases of unknown origin that involve chronic muscle inflammation.
It seems the amino acid transporter SLC7A8/SLC3A2 plays an important role in this disease.
The study was coordinated by Manuel Palacín from IRB Barcelona and Virginia Nunes from IDIBELL.
In spite of the difference between the cell functions responsible for giving rise to a tumour and for the metastasis of this same tumour, studies at IRB Barcelona using the fly Drosophila melanogaster reveal that some genes can drive both phenomena.
A team headed by ICREA researcher Eduard Batlle discovers that immune system-stimulating treatments combined with a TGF-beta inhibitor are effective against colon cancer.
The researchers developed a mouse model that mimics advanced human colon cancer. This model has allowed them to study the immune system response for the first time.
