Olivier Feron, a researcher at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research, seeks to understand how metastases form from a tumour. He already demonstrated that the most aggressive cancer cells use significant amounts of lipids as energy sources. Now Prof. Feron has discovered that cancer cellsRead More →
Emerging viral infections—from bird flu to Ebola to Zika infections—pose major threats to global public health, and understanding their origins can help investigators design defensive strategies against future outbreaks. A new study provides important insights on the potential origins of the most recent outbreak of viral pneumonia in China, whichRead More →
Promoting the signalling pathway of reelin –an essential extracellular protein for the neuronal migration and synaptic plasticity- could be an effective therapeutical strategy to counterbalance the main cognitive, biochemical and behavioural alterations seen in Alzheimer’s and other pathologies associated with Tau protein, as shown in a new study with animalRead More →
Certain bacteria can override a defence mechanism of the immune system, so-called programmed cell death, through inhibition of death effector molecules by their outer membranes components. Shigella bacteria, which cause diarrhoea, use lipopolysaccharides (LPS) on their surface to block the effector caspases. Lipopolysaccharides are a component of the bacterial outerRead More →
There are two types of human immunodeficiency virus: type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2). HIV-1 is the most widespread type and accounts for 95% of all infections worldwide. HIV is a virus that damages the immune system and, without treatment, a person infected with HIV can develop acquired immunodeficiencyRead More →
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus spread through certain body fluids that attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 T cells. If left untreated, HIV infection eventually progresses until leading to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), being one of the world’s most serious public health challenges. Since the beginningRead More →
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) damages the cells in the immune system, reducing the number of some of the white blood cells (CD4+ T cells) in the body and weakening the ability to fight everyday infections and disease. If left untreated, HIV infection eventually progresses until the immune system is tooRead More →
Immunoglobulins (Ig) or antibodies serve as key detection molecules in the immune system. Antibodies refers to proteins that are produced in B-lymphocytes by the body’s immune system in response to foreign substances or infections, including bacteria or viruses. There are five major classes (isotypes) of immunoglobulins: IgA (immunoglobin A) IgDRead More →
Ebola disease is a severe disease caused by infection with the Ebola virus and leading to severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. Ebola virus belongs to the genus Ebolavirus and its genome is a single-stranded RNA approximately 19,000 nucleotides long, encoding seven structural proteins which assemble with the genomic RNA to form one ofRead More →
Mycoplasma is an atypical bacterial genus which main characteristic is that naturally lacks cells walls and are the smallest and simplest self-replicating bacteria. The presence of sterols in the plasma membrane helps in regulation of membrane fluidity and protects from osmotic lysis so they don’t need a wall. Some mycoplasma species are pathogenic inRead More →
