by University of Geneva The protein Vav3 (in green) creates «bacterial docking stations» on the surface (in red) of respiratory cells (nuclei in blue) that facilitate airways’ infection in patients with cystic fibrosis. Credit: UNIGE, laboratoire Chanson Cystic fibrosis, one of the most common genetic diseases in Switzerland, causes severe respiratory and digestive disorders. Despite...
Inhale, exhale. Humans breathe between 17,000 to 23,000 times a day, on average. But for more than 70,000 children and young adults around the world, taking a breath can be a struggle because of a rare disease, cystic fibrosis. A gene that normally triggers a certain protein to move chloride, found in salt, to cell...
by Vanderbilt University Medical Center Scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, Arizona, have discovered previously unreported genetic and cellular changes that occur in the lungs of people with pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Their findings, reported Wednesday, July 8, in the journal Science Advances, should aid the...
So far there are no approved drugs for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS AURORA, Colo. (July 8, 2020) – In an effort to combat a growing worldwide epidemic of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), scientists have discovered a new target and a new therapy that has shown promising results in...
An antibody appears to make a big difference between multiple sclerosis and other disorders affecting the protective myelin sheath around nerve fibres, report Tohoku University scientists and colleagues in the journal Brain. The finding suggests that some of these ‘inflammatory demyelinating diseases’ belong to a different category than multiple sclerosis, and should be treated according...
by eLife Scientists have revealed how common respiratory bugs that cause serious infections in people with cystic fibrosis interact together, according to a new study in eLife. The results provide insights into how bacterial pathogens wrestle each other for territory that could open avenues for new antibacterial treatments. Studies of microbes from mouths, intestines, chronic...
by Experimental Biology and Medicine An article published in Experimental Biology and Medicine identifies a new target for the treatment of idiopathicpulmonary fibrosis. The study, led by Dr. Huaping Dai in the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Center of Respiratory Medicine at China-Japan Friendship Hospital and the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease in Beijing, China, reports that interleukin-25, an inflammatory...
Scleroderma is a rare autoimmune disease, affecting about 300,000 Americans, but for those it affects it can be challenging to manage. The disease is associated with chronic inflammation and fibrosis in the connective tissues and visibly results in hardening and tightening of the skin, among other symptoms. Depending on the severity, patients can also experience issues with internal organs....
by Andrew Camilli And Minmin Yen, The Conversation In the latest of a string of high-profile cases in the U.S., a cocktail of bacteria-killing viruses successfully treated a cystic fibrosis patient suffering from a deadly infection caused by a pathogen that was resistant to multiple forms of antibiotics. Curing infections is great, of course. But what about using these bacteria-killing viruses – bacteriophages – to prevent infections in the...
by Howard Hughes Medical Institute The patient, a 15-year-old girl, had come to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for a double lung transplant. It was the summer of 2017, and her lungs were struggling to reach even a third of their normal function. She had cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that clogs lungs with mucus and plagues...
