Research Highlights

Researchers led by Michael Kaminski report in “Molecular Therapy” that they have used base editing to repair mutations that cause ADPKD. The approach reduced liver cysts in mice.

Markus Landthaler and colleagues from the University of Cologne have deciphered the rules of a key cellular quality control mechanism in detail, and published their results in “Molecular Cell.”

Altuna Akalin and his team present a tool in “Nature Communications” that applies deep neural networks to evaluate multimodal data to help doctors choose the best treatment for their cancer patients.

Neuroblastoma, a cancer mainly affecting children, is often difficult to treat. A team led by Jan Dörr and Anton Henssen at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center report in “Cancer Discovery,” a potential reason treatment sometimes fails and a new strategy to combat particularly resistant tumors.

A team led by Simon Haas has developed a technology to decode how immune cells talk to each other – revealing how our bodies respond to infections, how miscommunication can trigger autoimmune diseases, and why some people don’t respond to immunotherapies. The study was published in “Nature Methods.”

Oral immunotherapy helps many children with peanut allergy – but for some, it can also trigger severe allergic reactions. In the journal “Allergy”, a team led by Young-Ae Lee explains what might be behind these differences and how treatment could become more personalized.

The ion channel PIEZO2 doesn’t just convey touch stimuli. It also plays a key role in the development of coronary vessels, a team led by Annette Hammes from the Max Delbrück Center reports in “Nature Cardiovascular Research.” The findings could improve our understanding of congenital heart defects.

Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center have detailed the precise mechanism through which the inflammatory signaling molecule IL-12 contributes to Alzheimer’s disease. The study was published in the journal “Nature Aging.”

A group of Berlin researchers in collaboration with international scientists have found differences in heart inflammation caused by COVID-19, anti-COVID-19 vaccination, and non-COVID-19 myocarditis. The find paves the way for more personalized therapies, they report in “Nature Cardiovascular Research.”

Researchers at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center in Berlin are developing a targeted treatment for muscular dystrophy with the help of gene-editing. Preclinical research led by the Spuler Lab published in “Nature Communications” now paves the way for first-in-human clinical trials.