Sant Pau is actively participating in La Marató de TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio Next Sunday, December 16, different professionals from Sant Pau who treat and care for patients with cancer, or participate in the investigation of this disease, collaborate on the 27th. edition of La Marató organized by TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio. This year the program is dedicated to the fight against cancer, the first cause of death in Catalonia among men and, second, among women. https://www.ccma.cat/tv3/marato/
Professionals from the Biochemistry Service, researchers from the Cardiovascular Risk Metabolic Bases Group at the Research Institute, together with doctors from the Endocrinology and Nutrition, Internal Medicine and Paediatrics Services at the Sant Pau Hospital, and physicians and researchers from other hospitals in Catalonia – grouped around the Network of Lipids and Arteriosclerosis, which brings together members of up to 24 Catalan centers, have led a publication in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology on the experience of 9 years in the diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) in Catalonia.
HF is a frequent hereditary disease (it is estimated that 1/220 people suffer from it) and is characterized by a high cardiovascular risk if those affected are not adequately controlled and treated, preferably from childhood or youth. However, it is known, both nationally and internationally, that the majority of patients with this disease have not been diagnosed and are therefore not controlled.
This is quite paradoxical, given that HF is often cited as an example of a well-known disease that has served as a model for the development of several widely used drugs such as statins. The published study establishes the efficacy of molecular diagnosis of HF as opposed to clinical and biochemical, and shows the basis for extending diagnosis to the level of family studies.
These family studies to diagnose new cases of FH have been offered by the Biochemistry Service for 10 years. More recently, these efforts have been boosted with a project by La Marató de TV3 dedicated to Cardiac Diseases that is being carried out together with the Sant Joan University Hospital in Reus, with which a website has also been developed, www. colesterolgenetic.cat, which aims to inform patients with FH, their families and the interested public about this pathology. The Carlos III Health Institute, the CIBER of Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases, and the CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition have also contributed to the financing of this study.
Different professionals from the Memory Unit, the Neurology Service and the Sant Pau Research Institute have participated in the study “Identification of evolutionarily conserved gene networks mediating neurodegenerative dementia” recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine.
The José Carreras Leukaemia Foundation and the Hospital de Sant Pau presented today at a press conference the campaign “The factory of unstoppable cells”, a clinical trial of immunotherapy CAR-T to offer an opportunity to lymphoma patients who no longer have other therapeutic possibilities available due to the resistance of their diseases to the usual treatments. The project, unique in the world for its characteristics, will be developed entirely in the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona during 2019.
It is a clinical trial especially aimed at patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma or T lymphomas such as anaplastic large cell lymphoma, the cells of which have receptors called CD30. The meeting was attended by Dr. Jordi Sierra, head of the Haematology Service at the Hospital de Sant Pau; Dr. Javier Briones, haematologist at the Hospital de Sant Pau, clinical researcher in the area of associated immunotherapy at the José Carreras Leukemia Research Institute and head of the Cellular Immunotherapy and Gene Therapy Group at the Sant Pau Research Institute; Dr. Javier Briones, haematologist at the Hospital de Sant Pau, clinical researcher in the area of associated immunotherapy at the José Carreras Research Institute for Leukemia and head of the Cellular Immunotherapy and Gene Therapy Group at the Sant Pau Research Institute; Dr. Javier Briones, haematologist at the Hospital de Sant Pau, clinical researcher in the area of associated immunotherapy at the José Carreras Research Institute for Leukemia and head of the Cellular Immunotherapy and Gene Therapy Group at the Sant Pau Research Institute. Manel Esteller, director of the José Carreras Leukemia Research Institute, Dr. Evarist Feliu, vice-president of the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation and Mireia Agudo, non-Hogdkin’s lymphoma patient.
“Scientific research is the cornerstone to achieve the definitive cure of all patients. Investment in improving current treatments and the quality of life of patients is our raison d’être. To be able to offer a hope like this clinical trial is an enormous satisfaction for the José Carreras Foundation and for all of us who participate”, explains Dr. Manel Esteller, director of the José Carreras Leukemia Research Institute.
lymphomas
Every year 7,500 people are diagnosed with lymphoma in Spain. It is the most frequent blood cancer. It is a neoplasm of the lymphatic system, which mainly contributes to forming and activating the body’s defences. Lymphomas are classified into two main groups: Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.
Most of these patients recover after undergoing intensive cycles of chemotherapy and often a bone marrow transplant. However, many patients will relapse and there are currently no more therapeutic possibilities to offer them.
The clinical trial
This trial is based on selecting a type of T lymphocytes called memory T lymphocytes. They are small but extremely effective cells of the body. They are generated after a primary infection and are in charge of mediating the defence of the organism in successive infections of the same pathogen. They remember it. In addition, they have a powerful cytotoxic effect, the quality of being toxic against others that are altered. And they live many years in our body. “We will select these T lymphocytes from the patient’s own memory and equip them with a” weapon “which, every time it detects one of these CD30 antigens, which express the tumour cells of the lymphoma, eliminates it. Thus, in perpetuity, in the patient’s body there would remain a “detector and eliminator” of any lymphoma cell that reappeared. In short, it is the genetic modification of the patient’s own T lymphocytes so that these attack cancer cells”, explains Dr. Javier Briones, the clinical head of the project.
“There are only 2 clinical trials of this type in the whole world, in the United States and China, with previous positive results, although it has only been possible to treat a little more than 30 patients. “The factory of unstoppable cells” will be the first clinical trial of CAR-T anti-CD30 immunotherapy for T lymphomas and Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Spain and Europe and the first to select T lymphocytes by memory”, confirms Dr. Jordi Sierra, head of the Hospital’s Haematology Department.
The aim of the Sant Pau Hospital and the José Carreras Foundation is to begin Phase I of this trial in 2019 with 10 patients refractory to the treatments. “Before I thought about winning the war but, after many relapses, I only think about winning each battle. As long as they offer me opportunities, I don’t give up,” says Mireia Agudo, a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma patient.
Currently, the José Carreras Foundation has already been able to reach three quarters of the minimum funds needed to carry out the project. All this in a collaborative campaign in which more than 11,000 people have participated.
+ info a www.imparables.org
The Institut de Recerca de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, in collaboration with the Epidemiology Service and the Dr. Antoni Esteve Foundation, organized the seminar “Past, Present and Future of EBM” by Dr. Gordon Guyatt, from McMaster University of Canada, invited by Dr. Pablo Alonso Coello, from the Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research Group. The seminar will take place on 12 December at 3 p.m. in the multipurpose rooms of São Paulo. Admission is free.
Dr. Guyatt, of McMaster University in Canada, is known for his leadership in evidence-based medicine, a term he coined in a 1992 JAMA article. His extensive curriculum includes contributions to quality of life research, randomized trials, meta-analysis, and clinical practice guidelines. He has also written extensively on health policy in the general press.
Gordon Guyatt has published more than 1,200 peer-reviewed articles, many of them in the most influential journals. According to Web of Science, his work has been cited more than 100,000 times and he is considered one of the twenty most cited researchers in history.
Dr. Guyatt is co-founder of the GRADE [Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation] working group. GRADE is a structured and transparent system for rating the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations and has been adopted by more than 100 health organizations worldwide, including the World Health Organization, NICE [National Institute for Health Care Excellence] or the Cochrane Center, among others.
It is therefore a privilege to have Dr Guyatt among us. We encourage you all to attend his conference.
Interesting links:
– Biography
– The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame
In June 2017, researchers from the IIB-Sant Pau, the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the UAB and the CIBER-BBN, created a spin-off, Nanoligent, with the goal of developing the first drug designed to eliminate metastatic cells that could enter the market.
This company, which has more than 10 years of studies behind, is directed by Dr. Manuel Rodríguez Mariscal, a professional with a long experience in the field of investment and the creation of biotechnology companies and aims to obtain founding for the realization of the project.
The research team, led by Dr Ramon Mangues (IIB Sant Pau), Prof Antonio Villaverde (UAB) and Dr Esther Vázquez (UAB), all members of the CIBER-BBN, have demonstrated that the drug acts only on metastasis initiating cells, through the specific interaction between a peptide present in the protein nanoparticle that transports it and the cellular receptor CXCR4 that is overexpressed in tumour cells. This allows targeting only tumour cells, to block their dissemination at early cancer stages, by preventing the appearance of metastasis while avoiding the adverse effects associated with conventional chemotherapy.
The CXCR4 receptor is overexpressed in at least 20 different cancer types, including prostate, breast, ovary and others not as common as the pancreas. This means that the nanoparticle can achieve targeted drug delivery in different tumor types, therefore, being a highly versatile vehicle that could transport different highly potent therapeutic molecules.
Currently, no drug in the market is capable of selectively eliminating metastatic stem cells. Therefore, this new discovery could have a high clinical impact, after carrying out the required regulatory studies, before their application in humans. The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona would be the first Centre in the world to evaluate this drug in humans, prior to its possible introduction in clinical therapy.
Programa Àmbit B30 3/12/2018 Please go to minut 2:35 to see the interview
Researchers at the Institut de Recerca de Sant Pau, the Institut de Neurociències de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the CIBER de Diabetis i Malalties Metabòliques Associades (CIBERDEM) have succeeded in inhibiting neuropathic pain in diabetic ratolins by administering a class of molecules with the property of releasing carbon monoxide. Its effectiveness suggests a great therapeutic potential of this drug for the treatment of diabetic neuropatiia in patients.
Neuropathic pain is one of the main complications of diabetes mellitus and it is estimated that approximately one out of every three diabetic patients have it. Although its physiopathological basis is not known exactly, recent evidence suggests that diabetes promotes neuroinflammation and thus plays a key role in the manifestation of signs of chronic pain in diabetics.
Researchers point to “the use of carbon monoxide, based on its anti-inflammatory properties, for the treatment and alleugeriment of neuropathic pain”. However, “its use requires a galenic formulation that allows for the dispensation and/or alliberament control of this carbon monoxide from nontoxic agents,” he says.
A new study, published in PLoS One, has demonstrated the effectiveness of the drug Corm-2, based on carbon monoxide alliberator molecules, for the treatment of diabetic neuropatias in ratolins with type 1 diabetes. The researchers, led by Josep Julve, from the group Bases metabòliques del risc cardiovascular and Olga Pol, from the Molecular Neuropharmacology group, both from the Sant Pau Research Institute, have identified the molecular mechanisms involved in the antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effect through which the drug exerts its action.
Paper of Corm-2 in the treatment of diabetic neuropatiia
Carbon monoxide release molecules, called Corm (Carbon Monoxide-Releasing Molecules), are erected as a valid alternative to the use of therapies based on the inhalation of this gas, with equally favorable properties in different experimental models of inflammation, but less perilloses. In particular, the Corm-2 drug, one of the most frequently employed Corm representatives, has been evaluated satisfactorily by the Group led by Olga Pol in experimental models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain.
Ara, the researchers have studied its effectiveness in remission of neuropathic pain in a chronic and proinflammatory condition such as diabetes: “In this work we want to evaluate the anti-inflammatory / antioxidant effect exercised by Corm-2 molecules and their potential analgesic effect on neuropathic pain associated with type 1 diabetes mellitus,” explains Olga Pol.
“The reports conclude that the inhibition of neuropathic pain produced by the administration of Corm-2 is related to favourable changes in the expression of neuroinflammatory markers and oxidative stress in diabetic mice”, states Josep Julve.
Although the improvement in neuropatia observed in diabetic ratolins treated with Corm-2, this work also showed potential non-beneficial effects as its administration also produced an elevation, albeit moderate, in the circulating levels of cholesterol. “The favourable effects shown for Corm-2 reinforce the need to continue researching in this line of work, proving the effect of galenic formulae with the same efficiency without secondary effects in the desitjats”, says the first signant of the work, Karen Alejandra Méndez Lara.
“The results make possible new therapeutic possibilities for the use of this class of drugs in the handling of neuroinflammatory based complications in diabetic patients”, concluded the researchers.
* Researchers José Luis Sánchez-Quesada, Núria Farré, Sheila Ruiz-González, Jesús M. Martín-Camps, Enrique Lerma, Edgar Zapico and Francisco Blanco-Vaca from CIBERDEM, from the Institut de Recerca de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau-IIB Sant Pau and director of the Servei de Bioquímica i el Servei de Patologia Digestiva de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau de Barcelona have also taken part in the study, as have Núria Farré, Sheila Ruiz-González, Jesús M. Martín-Camps, Enrique Lerma, Edgar Zapico and Francisco Blanco-Vaca from CIBERDEM, from the Institut de Recerca de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau-IIB Sant Pau and director of the Servei de Patologia Digestiva from the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona.
Reference article:
Administration of Corm-2 diabetic neuropathy inhibits but does not reduce dyslipidemia in diabetic mice. Méndez-Lara KA, Sants D, Farré N, Ruiz-Nogales S, Leánez S, Sánchez-Quesada JL, Zapico I, Lerma E, Escolà-Gil JC, Blanc-Vaca F, Martín-Camps JM, Julve J, Pol O . PLoS One. 2018 October 4; 13 (10): e0204841.DOI: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0204841
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
The Research Group on Inflammation and vascular remodelling of the IIB Sant Pau, led by Dr. Cristina Rodríguez, has recently published the article “Lysyl oxidase (LOX) limits VSMC proliferation and neointimal thickening through its extracellular Enzymatic activity” in the journal Scientific Reports. The work delves into the mechanisms involved in the ability of lysyl oxidase (LOX) to limit vascular remodeling and proliferation of smooth muscle cells (CMLV) in the vascular wall.
The work, published in the journal Scientific Reports delves into the mechanisms involved in the ability of lysyl oxidase (LOX) to limit vascular remodeling and proliferation of CMLVs characteristic of the restenosis process and has been directed by Dr. Cristina Rodríguez and Dr. José Martínez González (CSIC), researchers at CIBERCV.
LOX is a key enzyme in the synthesis and maturation of the extracellular matrix that contributes to the control of vascular remodelling through the regulation of cell proliferation, calcification of the matrix and the production of oxidative stress. This enzyme, a priori, has a fundamentally extracellular location, although it also has intracellular forms. In addition and surprisingly, some of the cellular responses regulated by LOX do not depend on its enzymatic activity. However, the biological function and possible contribution to the control of LOX vascular remodeling had not been analyzed. The results of the study, obtained through strategies of pharmacological inhibition and overexpression in human vascular cells and studies in transgenic mice that overexpress LOX, indicate that the extracellular and enzymatically active form of LOX is responsible for the antiproliferative effect of this enzyme in CMLV and suggests that pharmacological control of the activity of this enzyme could limit vascular remodelling in pathological processes such as restenosis.
In developed countries, cardiovascular diseases continue to be the main cause of morbidity and mortality. Revascularization by percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is a widely used therapeutic measure in the treatment of coronary artery disease, although its greatest limitation is restenosis, which is a complex process in which, in response to the damage produced by PTCA, a vascular remodeling is produced characterized by the proliferation of CMLV and the production of components of the extracellular matrix. This response leads to obstruction of the vessel’s light, again compromising the irrigation of the heart muscle. This is a significant problem, both clinically and economically, which still has a high incidence, despite advances in the development of releasing stents and antiproliferative drugs. Therefore, it is essential to study this process in order to identify new strategies that prevent the appearance of restenosis and limit its development.
Researchers of the Molecular Physiology Group of the Synapse of the Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IIB Sant Pau), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the University of Barcelona and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) has published an article in one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the field of Biology and Biomedicine, Elife. This article demonstrates that the two families of neurotransmitter glutamate receptors, essential for the transfer of the nervous impulse between neurons, present an organization much more complex than previously thought and proves that the valid classification, accepted by the scientific community for more 20 years old, is insufficient and is dominated by an overly anthropocentric vision of evolution.
The research team, led by Dr. Àlex Bayés of the IIB Sant Pau, carried out a very thorough study on the evolutionary history of the two families of neurotransmitter glutamate receptors. These proteins are one of the fundamental pillars of the nervous system, since they allow the formation and modulate the power of the nerve impulses.
This study shows that the classification of these two families is incomplete, especially as regards the receptors that form ionic channels. Throughout the nearly billion years of evolution of animals, the diversity of glutamate receptors appear to be much higher than those seen in vertebrate genomes.
Previous work has focused on vertebrates, which appear about 400 million years ago, and therefore could not identify all kinds of receptors that exist beyond these species. The study of representative species of all the animal kingdom lineages has allowed to significantly expand the classification of these families. This work represents, therefore, a fundamental change in how we understand the diversity that exists within these receptor families.
The study of the properties of these new receptors could result in the identification of receptors with new properties that could have applications in the field of neurosciences.
It is interesting to think what would happen if similar studies were done in other protein families that have been studied mainly in vertebrates that are, on the other hand, the vast majority.
Link to publication:
El Dr. Jordi Surrallés, director del Servicio de Genética del Hospital y del Grupo de investigación “Síndromes de inestabilidad genómica y reparación del ADN” del Instituto de Investigación de San Pablo participará el próximo 27 de noviembre en la Mesa redonda, previa a la proyección del documental “Jóvenes invisibles”, sobre los avances en la investigación de las Enfermedades minoritarias. El acto se celebrara en Caixaforum. Es un Acto Organizado por la Fundación Isabel Gemio y la Obra Social “la Caixa”. PROGRAMA DOCUMENTAL Y CHARLA INVESTIGACIÓN CAIXAFORUM 27_11_2018
Having specific variants in the PATJ gene predisposes to a worse recovery from an ischemic stroke. 7 out of 10 patients with these variants suffer serious sequelae three months after the cerebral infarction, that is to say, they remain in a situation of dependence, in front of less than half of the patients who do not present these variants. These are data from an international multicentre study coordinated by researchers from the Hospital del Mar Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) and doctors from the Hospital del Mar, published in the journal Circulation Research. The study involved the participation of Dr. Israel Fernández, from the Pharmacogenomics and Neurovascular Genetics Group of the Sant Pau Research Institute and co-investigator of the study, where he also participated in its design and coordination.
The journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine has just published a review article on an extracorporeal gas exchange technique (CO2 removal). Dr. Jordi Mancebo, director of the Sant Pau Intensive Care Unit and member of the International ECMO network, is one of the co-authors of the publication. The article “Extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal for lowering the risk of mechanical ventilation: research questions and clinical potential for the future” proposes recommendations for both clinical practice and research in this area. This technique is currently used in the Intensive Care Unit with selected patients.
The projects led by Dr. Joaquín López-Contreras, of the Research Group on Infectious Diseases and Microbiology of the IIB Sant Pau and clinical head of the Infectious Diseases Unit of the Internal Medicine Service of the Sant Pau, and Dr. Ignacio Bolíbar Ribas, of the Research Group on Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services of the IIB Sant Pau and of the Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health Service of the Hospital, have received two grants for research in the 2017 edition of “la Marató” dedicated to infectious diseases.
Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IIB Sant Pau) is pleased to share with you the 2017 Scientific Report, result of the combined efforts of the researchers, together with the support of the technical and administrative staff.
This report is intended as a basic working tool that gives visibility to our Research and Innovation, in which the growing progress of our scientific activity in recent years is shown.
Once again, thanks to the high quality of our researchers and to the commitment of all the staff of the IR-IIB Sant Pau, we are optimistic about the future of our research and its ultimate goal of improving the health and wellbeing of the citizens.
You can find it at IIB Sant Pau Scientific Report 2017
Researchers from IIB Sant Pau, IISFJD, CIBERDEM and CIBERCV have discovered that the lipoproteins of these patients reduce their ability to prevent the accumulation of cholesterol in the macrophages of the arterial wall. The discoveries of this new work may open new therapeutic possibilities for patients with this disease by increasing HDL functionalities.
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a permanent dilation of the aorta that affects approximately 5% of men over 50 and more than 1% of women over 65. The rupture of AAA is a major cause of death in our country and, at present, there are no pharmacological treatments that help prevent the progression of the disease, surgical intervention being the only therapeutic alternative.
Now, a new study in which researchers from the Center for Biomedical Research on the Net (CIBER), belonging to its areas of Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM) and Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV), participate, could open up new treatment possibilities by identifying the mechanisms by which lipoproteins that transport good cholesterol (HDL) lose their cardioprotective capacity in patients with AAA.
The work, published in the journal Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, has been developed by researchers from CIBERDEM at the Research Institute of the Hospital de la Santa Cruz y San Pablo in Barcelona, and from CIBERCV at the Health Research Institute of the Fundación Jiménez Díaz in Madrid, led by Juan Carlos Escolà-Gil and José Luis Martín-Ventura, respectively, in collaboration with Finnish and Danish researchers.
Role of cholesterol in the progression of abdominal aortic aneurysm
AAA is generally characterized by the accumulation of cholesterol and infiltration of macrophages in the aortic wall. “The objective of this research focused on evaluating the composition of circulating HDL particles and their potential to promote the flow of cholesterol expulsion from macrophages in subjects with AAA,” explains José Luis Martín-Ventura.
“The findings allow us to conclude that patients with AAA present alterations in the composition of the HDL and a reduction in their main cardioprotective function: their capacity to prevent the accumulation of cholesterol in the macrophages of the arterial wall”, states Juan Carlos Escolà-Gil.
The work showed for the first time that, in these patients, the elimination of cholesterol from the macrophages caused by HDL is defective. The patients presented low levels of apolipoprotein A-I and particles preβ-HDL and alteration in the flow of cholesterol expulsion from macrophages. “This is an important functional alteration of the HDL that could be mechanically linked to AAA”, adds the first signatory of the work, Diego Martínez-López.
“These results may open up new therapeutic possibilities for patients with this disease by increasing HDL functionalities,” the researchers conclude.
Reference articles:
Impaired HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) -Mediated Macrophage Cholesterol efflux in Patients With Abdominal aortic Aneurysm. Diego Martínez-López, Lidia Cedó, Jari Metso, Elena Burillo, Annabel García-León, Marina Canyelles, Jes S. Lindholt, Monica Torres-Fonseca, Luis Miguel Blanco-Colio, Jesús Mª Vázquez, Francisco Blanco-Vaca, Matti Jauhiainen, Jose Luis Martín-Ventura, Juan Carlos Escolà-Gil.
DOI: 10.1161 / ATVBAHA.118.311704
Also participating in the study were researchers Elena Burillo, Mónica Torres-Fonseca and Luis Miguel Blanco-Colio from CIBERCV and from the Health Research Institute of the Fundación Jiménez Díaz-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Jesús Vázquez from the Carlos III National Cardiovascular Research Centre and CIBERCV, the Jes Lindholt University Hospital in Odense, Matti Jauhiainen and Jari Metso of Minerva Instituto de Investigación Médica y Lídia Cedó, Annabel García-León, Marina Canyelles of CIBERDEM, and Francisco Blanco-Vaca of CIBERDEM, Head of the Research Group on Metabolic Basis of Cardiovascular Risk at IIB Sant Pau and of the Biochemistry Service of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona.
The Genomics Group of Complex Diseases of the IIB-Sant Pau has been awarded with the Antonio López Borrasca Prize of the Spanish Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis (SETH) for the research project “Validation of the MIRTO Project: Modeling the Individual Risk of Thrombosis in Oncology”. The award was presented at the XXXIV Congress of the SETH held recently in Granada.
The main objective of the project is to provide health professionals with efficient tools for the diagnosis and prevention of thromboembolic disease in cancer patients.
This multicenter and prospective clinical project has developed a new algorithm to identify cancer patients who will develop venous thromboembolism during the first six months after cancer diagnosis. The group is now awaiting international validation of this algorithm from samples from the prestigious Vienna-CAT study in collaboration with the University of Vienna.
Sant Pau researchers demonstrate that bilingual and/or multilingual people have greater protection against neurodegeneration in Huntington’s disease. The study by researchers from the Sant Pau Research Institute’s Parkinson’s Disease and Other Movement Disorders Research Group demonstrates that the continued use of bilingualism is associated with structural and metabolic changes in the brain that have a positive impact on cognition, movement, and function.
In the study led by Dr. Saúl Martínez-Huerta, from the Research Group on Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders of the Sant Pau Research Institute, the Sant Pau Services of Nuclear Medicine, Neurology and Imaging Diagnosis participated. Recently published in Parkinsonism and related disorders, in this study the researchers from Sant Pau addressed the impact of the intensive use of bilingualism on clinical characteristics, brain structure and function in 30 patients in the early and mild stages of Huntington’s disease, a genetically caused neurodegenerative disease that combines severe progressive motor, cognitive and behavioural symptoms. The researchers explored the effects of bilingualism on brain volume and metabolism using neuroimaging techniques.
The study shows that patients who throughout their lives have interspersed on more occasions the use of Catalan and Spanish have a better cognitive performance in certain tests, a greater brain volume in frontal areas and a very noticeably better metabolic function in different frontal-temporal areas and the anterior cingulate dorsal cortex. These changes. They are associated with both improved cognitive performance and a better overall functional status, suggesting a neuroprotective effect on disease progression.
Although the effect of bilingualism has been explored in other diseases, this is the first study to address a neurodegenerative process as complex as Huntington’s disease. The results obtained reinforce the importance of maintaining regular mental activity as a neuroprotective agent against neurodegenerative processes and highlight the extraordinary effect of alternating the use of two languages.
Link to the article: https://www.prd-journal.com/article/S1353-8020(18)30405-X/fulltext
Researchers from the IIB Sant Pau, the CSIC, the CIBERCV and the Cardiology Service of the Sant Pau, publish in the journal Cardiovascular Research the mechanism by which patients with genetic variant on chromosome 4q25 present a higher incidence of atrial fibrillation. The study was carried out at the Hospital de Sant Pau in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Jaén.
The results of the study show that the propensity to atrial fibrillation is due to alterations in the regulation of intracellular calcium, as observed in myocytes isolated from patients carrying the variant on chromosome 4q25.
At present, genetic search technology has evolved enormously, reducing costs. This may allow the prevalence of genetic variants in the general population to be studied.
The relevance of the study is that it addresses the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia associated with high morbidity and the results justify a prospective study using drugs that modulate the release of intracellular calcium.
This publication opens the door to a prospective study with drugs that modulate the release of intracellular calcium to treat this arrhythmia. The authors of the article are evaluating which of the drugs with the ability to regulate intracellular calcium would be the best candidate to conduct the prospective clinical trial in the immediate future.
This is a scientific work that has recently been published in the journal Cardiovascular Research and is led by researchers from IIB Sant Pau, CSIC and CIBERCV. It has the collaboration of the Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery Services of San Pablo, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the University of Jaén.
To consult the study, click here
Researchers at CIBER Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV) have made progress in identifying the mechanisms involved in the generation of oxidative stress, a fundamental process in vascular remodelling that takes place during the development of different vascular pathologies such as atherosclerosis, restenosis, hypertension or abdominal aortic aneurysm.
In a study published in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, carried out by the CIBERCV groups of José Martínez González, CSIC researcher at the Institut de Recerca de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Mercedes Salaices at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the mechanisms through which the nuclear NOR-1 receptor regulates the proliferation and migration of vascular cells are studied and a further step is taken in the identification of the target genes through which NOR-1 controls these processes.
“The identification of the mechanisms involved in the generation of oxidative stress could facilitate the development of useful drugs for the treatment of these diseases,” says CIBERCV group leader José Martínez González, who explains that “oxidative stress affects multiple aspects of arterial function and among others regulates the proliferation and migration of vascular cells.
In this work it is evident that in smooth muscle cells of the vascular wall (CMLV), NOR-1 increases the migration of these cells through the induction of oxidative stress. The researchers used overexpression techniques in human vascular cells to demonstrate that NOR-1 increases the expression of NOX-1, the main enzyme responsible for the production of oxidative stress.
Using molecular and cellular biology techniques, the authors determined that NOX-1 is a gene directly regulated by NOR-1. “In addition, we analyzed active human atherosclerotic lesions and observed that both NOX-1 and NOR-1 are expressed in the CMLV of the vascular wall, thus demonstrating their physiopathological importance,” explains the first signatory of the study, Judith Alonso.
The nuclear receptor NOR-1 modulates redox homeòstasi in human vascular smooth muscle cells.
Judith Alonso, Laia Canes, Ana García-Rodó, Pablo García de Frutos, Cristina Rodríguez, José Martínez-González
Dr. Martijn Figee, a research psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, has visited Sant Pau because of the scientific interest that this centre in the United States has in the Deep Brain Stimulation in Schizophrenia project led by Dr. Iluminada Corripio, a psychiatrist in the Sant Pau Psychiatry Service. This project is one of the studies carried out by the Psychiatric Disorders Research Group of the IIB Sant Pau, coordinated by Dr. María Portella. This research group is completed by Dr. Sandra Roldan, Dr. Carlos Garcia Rivera and Dr. Anna Alonso Solis.
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