Press and Public Relations
Press Officer and Head of Press and Public Relations (in ch.)
Dr. Sibylle Kohlstädt
Im Neuenheimer Feld 28069120 Heidelberg
Phone: +49 6221 422854
Fax: +49 6221 422968
E-Mail: s.kohlstaedt@dkfz.de
or presse@dkfz.de
Recent Press Releases
Sleeping sickness: Pathogens camouflage themselves with sugar
Model of a Trypanosoma brucei surface antigen (VSG3). The sugar binding sit...
© CDC/ Dr. Myron G. Schultz ; DKFZ/ Erec Stebbins
It has long been known that the pathogens causing sleeping sickness evade the immune system by exchanging their surface proteins. But now scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have found an additional parasite strategy to escape the immune system: They confuse the defense system with sugar. The sugar chains on the coat protein prevent the binding of protective antibodies and thus increase the pathogenic properties of the unicellular pathogens.
Brain cancer: Typical mutation in cancer cells stifles immune response
Mutated IDH1: Replacing a single amino acid blocks the body's defenses and ...
© L. Bunse/DKFZ
The exchange of a single amino acid building block in a metabolic enzyme can lead to cancer. In addition, it can impair the immune system, scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the University Hospitals in Mannheim and Heidelberg, and the German Cancer Consortium now report. It thus blocks the body's immune response in the battle against the mutant molecule and also impedes immunotherapy against brain cancer. This finding opens new insights into cancer development and progression and it also suggests that rethinking antitumor immunotherapy is required.
Mechanism of action of a diabetes drug differs between males and females
The example of the glitazones shows how important it is to research new dru...
© Pixabay.com
Most diabetes medications do not attack the cause of the disease. Glitazones are different: they improve insulin sensitivity and can promote the conversion of unhealthy white adipose tissue into fat-burning beige adipocytes. However, due to their side effects, they are hardly used. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center are investigating how the beneficial effects of glitazones can be used without side effects. They have now taken an important first step in this direction. They have discovered a gene that is crucial for the effect of glitazones in female mice, but not in males.
