Healthcare industry

Article - 20/04/2009

Non-invasive laser technology for the treatment of malignant tumours

The Department of Thoracic Surgery at Constance Hospital has since March 2009 been using an innovative laser scalpel for removing metastases of malignant tumours from the lung. This will open up numerous new possibilities which at the moment are unfortunately not fully exploited at all hospitals due to lack of knowledge.

Article - 18/01/2018

Medications that target metastasing tumours

Tumour metastases are often resistant to the drug that is used to eliminate the primary tumour. Genome-wide analyses of mutation patterns in the primary tumour and its metastases provide information on the aggressiveness of cancer and may help to find the best available means of further treatment. This has been demonstrated by scientists from Heidelberg in a clinical trial on the molecular evolution of renal cancer.

Article - 25/08/2014

Frederik Wenz - radiologist sets milestone with new surgical technique for the treatment of bone metastases

Can painful bone metastases be treated in a targeted and quick way? Can metastases that are potentially present in the liver and kidneys be adequately treated at the same time as bone metastases? These are the questions that Professor Dr. med. Frederik Wenz from the University Medical Center Mannheim asked himself before going on to develop an innovative surgical technique. After a long development period, this technique is now recognized as an…

Article - 22/08/2016

Ad-O-Lytics – a new biotech start-up from Ulm

A few years ago, Florian Kreppel developed a therapeutic approach that combined genetic vaccines with molecular address labels. It worked quite well, but the resulting product did not have the anticipated immunising properties and was put on the backburner. Now Kreppel's group of researchers is nearing completion of another project. The researchers plan to use a patented virotherapeutic platform technology for cancer treatment to establish a…

Article - 22/03/2019

Personalised therapies for treating metastasing breast cancer

Breast cancer is characterised by broad genetic diversity. Successful treatment is made even more difficult by the fact that, in advanced breast cancer, the properties of metastases often differ significantly from the primary tumour. The Heidelberg CATCH study is now collecting genetic profiles from patients' metastasis tissue samples, which can be used to tailor therapy to individual requirements.

Why do metastases often only appear after the original tumor has been surgically removed? Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the Mannheim Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University have now published an explanation for this phenomenon. They were able to identify a messenger substance of the cancer cells that locally promotes the growth of the primary tumor.

Article - 11/05/2015

Lung cancer: MTSS1 is a putative marker of tumour progression and metastatic disease

Lung cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. 90% of all lung cancer cases in men and 80% in women are due to long-term exposure to tobacco smoke. In Germany, around 140 new cases are diagnosed every day, and 50,000 people die of lung cancer every year. PD Dr. Gian Kayser, senior consultant in the Department of Clinical Pathology at Freiburg University Medical Centre,…

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.

Article - 20/04/2009

Biomarkers for the identification of metastases

Prof. Dr. Heike Allgayer a surgeon and molecular biologist from Heidelberg is investigating the molecular processes of the formation of tumour metastases. A major objective of her research is to find specific biomarkers that enable the early identification of metastases and to monitor the outcome of therapy. She has already received numerous prizes for her achievements.

New edition - 24/05/2019

Tumour metastasis

Cancer is usually not curable when metastases have formed in the body. Metastases are often resistant to drugs that have successfully eliminated the primary tumour. The basic features of the complex process of metastasis are now known, but many details still remain elusive. Intensive research activities are focusing on new therapeutic concepts aimed at developing effective anti-metastatic therapies.

Viral cancer therapy - 26/10/2022

Therapeutic viruses against tumours and metastases

Viruses can overcome cell barriers and transfer information to their host cells. They know how to make their host cell’s infrastructure work for them. This makes them excellent biotechnological tools, which a research group from the Fraunhofer IGB in Stuttgart is using to its advantage. The team is developing a therapeutic virus that not only recognises and fights tumours, but also has the potential to reach metastases.

Press release - 15/07/2014

amcure Receives EUR 5 Million Funding for the Development of New Tumour Therapeutic Agents

amcure GmbH, a spin-off from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), has closed a Series A financing deal amounting to a total of EUR 5 million. The funding comes from a consortium headed by LBBW Venture Capital, with participations from KfW, MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Wuerttemberg, S-Kap Beteiligungen Pforzheim, BioM AG as well as private investors. The company also receives subsidies from the German Ministry of…

Article - 04/07/2013

Experimental evidence of stem cells for metastasis

For the first time, scientists from Heidelberg have characterised cancer cells that initiate metastasis in the blood of breast cancer patients using an in-vivo xenograft mouse model. These cells have the properties of cancer stem cells and are characterised by three surface molecules that can be used as biomarkers for disease progression.

Article - 22/06/2009

New method enables the early and reliable detection of metastatic melanoma cells

The presence of lymph node metastases has a considerable effect on the prognosis and therapy of patients with malignant melanomas. Therefore the histopathological examination of what are known as sentinel lymph nodes the first lymph nodes that metastasising cancer cells reach is of great importance. However the examination method has its technical limitations where very small metastases are concerned. Professor Dr. Anja Ulmer a dermatologist at…

On the one hand, blood vessels supply tumors with nutrients and, on the other, enable cancer cells to spread throughout the body. The settlement of circulating tumor cells in a distant organ is promoted by factors whose production is induced by the primary tumor itself. Scientists have now identified a new growth factor produced by blood vessels that enables tumor cells to metastatically colonize organs.

What role do the lymphatic vessels play in the metastasis of cancer cells? Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center and the Mannheim Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg developed a method to investigate this question in mice. The aim of the work was to identify new ways to block the dangerous colonization and spread of tumor cells.

Article - 04/02/2013

G protein-coupled receptors and their importance for research and development

Brian Kobilka and Robert Lefkowitz were awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking discoveries of the inner workings of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These transmembrane receptors play a key role in the processing of odours and the recognition of hormones. The work of the two American scientists has had an impact on many researchers around the world. In the following interview, Professor Dr. Daniel Legler, head of…

Article - 25/02/2010

Molecular marker for the treatment of lung cancer

Whether the treatment of lung cancer with therapeutic antibodies is successful or not largely depends on the genetic makeup of the tumour. There is a need for reliable biomarkers that can predict patients’ response to treatment.

Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen – 14 December 2016: amcure, a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class cancer therapeutics, today announced the closing of a Series B financing round amounting to a total of EUR 6 million.

Article - 14/09/2022

Theranostics of prostate cancer: the combination of radionuclide diagnostics and radionuclide therapy

Using a low-level radiopharmaceutical that binds to the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), positron emission tomography/computed tomography can be used to visualise even small prostate cancer metastases. Developed by Heidelberg researchers, the radiopharmaceutical is a modified radionuclide diagnostic agent that has been coupled with a powerful emitter and used as a therapeutic tracer to irradiate and destroy cancer cells from within.

Article - 26/03/2012

Cancer therapy targets secretory pathways

Secretion is a fundamental cellular process. Defects in the secretory pathway have been associated with certain genetic diseases in which the maturation of proteins is disturbed. Non-genetic diseases such as metabolic disorders and cancer have also been linked to a defective secretory pathway. Dr. Hesso Farhan from the University of Konstanz and the Biotechnology Institute Thurgau BITg is investigating possible ways to counteract the development…

Article - 29/06/2009

Alternative protein structures and breast cancer

A single protein can have many variants. This variability is achieved by a process known as splicing which can introduce small modifications into the mRNA transcript of a gene. Prof. Dr. Elmar Stickeler from the University Womens Hospital in Freiburg found that some of these splice variants can also induce cancer. Stickeler and his team are investigating how splicing factors change their target molecules and how this leads to breast cancer. This…

Prostate cancer is the most frequent malignant tumour in men. Researchers from Freiburg and Bonn have succeeded in developing the basics for new therapies in particular for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

Article - 13/04/2008

Selective internal radiotherapy

Since early 2008 the Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Mannheim University Hospital has been offering a new therapy for the treatment of liver cancers selective internal radiotherapy SIRT.

The European Research Council is to fund a project at the University Hospital of Freiburg on the development of ultra fast magnetic resonance imaging for applications in the fields of neurology the neurosciences and oncology.