Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have succeeded in identifying a resistance mechanism that often occurs in a specific targeted therapy against chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The drug ibrutinib is effective in many cases, but therapy resistance often develops during the course of treatment. In cell culture experiments and in mice, the resistance mechanism was successfully overcome using a second drug.

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Prize 2025 goes to Prof. Dr Robert Zeiser for his outstanding research in haematology and immunology. Zeiser’s research at the University of Freiburg and the Medical Center – University of Freiburg have led, among other things, to new types of cancer therapy that has increased survival rates and the patients’ quality of life.

HepaRegeniX GmbH, a clinical stage company developing a novel regenerative therapy for the treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases, announced the closing of a Series C round led by Vesalius Biocapital IV with participation of existing investors Novo Holdings, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), and High-Tech Gründerfonds. The new funds of €15 million will be used to advance the clinical development of the clinical candidate HRX-215.

The results of a Tuebingen-led study raise hope that a newly developed drug could herald a new era in oncological liver surgery and transplantation. The drug could even have the potential to significantly improve the treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases. The drug candidate "HRX-215" is a so-called MKK4 inhibitor, i.e. the drug inhibits the MKK4 protein found in liver cells and thus leads to an increase in the regeneration of…

A high-fat, high-sugar diet damages the liver in the long term. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now identified a characteristic change in the molecular signaling pathways of liver cells in mice that were exposed to such a diet for weeks. It fuels the division activity of hepatocytes and correlates with the risk of patients suffering liver failure after liver surgery.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a type of blood cancer that arises from malignant changes in blood-forming cells of the bone marrow. It mainly occurs in older individuals and represents about 20 percent of all adult leukemia cases. A research team from the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research at the University of Freiburg has now demonstrated for the first time that mast cells play a crucial role in the development of CML.

Effective drugs against viral diseases like COVID-19 are urgently needed now and in the future. The emergence of viral mutants and yet unknown viruses could push vaccines to their limits. The DZIF scientist and bioinformatician Andreas Dräger from the University of Tübingen is working on a computer-based method that can help to accelerate the time-consuming identification and development of antiviral agents. Using a novel analysis technique that…

In our bones, specialized cells called osteoblasts are responsible for building up bone substance. A team of researchers led by scientists from the DKFZ-Hector Cancer Institute at the University Medical Center Mannheim* and the University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf has now identified an enzyme that controls the activity of osteoblasts.

Drugs consist of molecules developed in the drug laboratory that bind to their target, usually a protein, and thus exert their effect. The actual duration of binding of a drug molecule to its target protein varies depending on the drug. The lifetime of the drug-target complex can play a critical role in the efficacy of a drug, as a long residence time at the target can be crucial for the drug's action in some cases.

Dossier - 20/01/2014

Optogenetics switching cell activity on and off with light

What still sounds like science fiction to the general public has long been within reach for many years scientists have been able to manipulate neural activity selectively with light. They use different wavelengths to turn cells on and off as if they were a standard switch. Optogenetics is an emerging technology that combines optics and genetics. The technology is already used in many different ways for many different purposes by numerous research…

Dossier - 02/12/2013

RNA interference confidence is returning

The 15-year history of RNA interference is not short on dramatic effects. It begins with the unexpected discovery and publication of the process of post-transcriptional gene silencing in 1998 for which Andrew Fire and Craig Mello were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine just eight years after their discovery. In 2001 Thomas Tuschl succeeded in switching off genes in human cells with small synthetic pieces of RNA siRNA.

Dossier - 13/05/2013

The human proteome the next major goal

The “Human Proteome Project”, a ten-year global initiative that is making a systematic effort to map all human proteins, has moved from the planning to the experimental stage. How significant and how effective the project will be depends on how much the resources offered are used by proteome researchers and on the data that the researchers bring into the project.