news

KU Leuven researchers discover how to break the negative feedback loop to improve cancer immunotherapy. Over the past years, immunotherapy has improved the outlook for many cancer patients. However, not all cancers respond to current immunotherapies. A research team led by KU Leuven discovered a key mechanism behind this lack of response, and it came up with an innovative solution.

New discoveries in the treatment of lung cancer: the role of the Bcl-xL protein in the aging of neutrophils, the white blood cells that contribute to tumor development . Neutrophils are white blood cells essential to our defense against bacterial infection. These cells patrol the body for 1 or 2 days, then die and are replaced by new neutrophils.

How are our cells able to detect tiny asperities in their support, the extracellular matrix, which bind them together - By what mechanism - Do they manage to modify their behavior in response to these small reliefs - These are the questions to which a team of cell biology researchers from UNamur and UCLouvain have provided major answers, which have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal Science Advances.

In a breakthrough discovery, scientists from VIB-VUB Center for Structural Biology unraveled the mysteries of SlyB, a tiny but mighty protein found in the outer membrane of certain bacteria. When bacteria face stress, SlyB acts as a crucial guardian to protect the bacterial cell from dying. This discovery not only deepens our understanding of bacterial survival mechanisms but also paves the way for potential applications in antimicrobial research.

A major discovery in the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of leukemia. Research led by François Fuks - Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory, ULB Faculty of Medicine, ULB Cancer Research Center and Institut Jules Bordet, H.U.B . In Belgium, around 1,300 new cases of leukemia are diagnosed every year, a type of blood cancer that affects the entire population.

Researchers have built the first ever map showing how every single neuron in the nervous system of a tiny worm communicates wirelessly. This huge step forward in understanding how neurons communicate through extremely short proteins called neuropeptides will help scientists understand how our emotions and mental states are controlled, as well as widespread neuropsychiatric conditions like eating disorders, OCD and PSTD.

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive tumour that is very difficult to treat and has low survival rates. Previous studies show that there are two major subtypes of tumour: classical and basal. Basal tumours tend to be more aggressive and are more associated with invasion and metastasis. Much research is being carried out to determine whether the two subtypes respond differently to the most common chemotherapies, which would mean they should each receive targeted treatment.

Researchers Maarten Kuijk and Hans Ingelberts of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel are leading the international European consortium CoDaFlight (Colouring the Dark in Fluorescent light). The consortium's aim is to lay the foundation for the use of fluorescence lifetime imaging in medical procedures such as image-guided surgery and monitoring disease-related processes.

The cells in our body continuously keep each other informed. They do this by exchanging, among other things, virus-like vesicles. Pascale Zimmermann's group, from the Department of Human Genetics, has been studying these vesicles for many years. Her fundamental research is necessary to use these intercellular messengers in medicine.

Participation in regional action plan motivates university in ambition to replace, reduce and refine animal testing As a humanist university, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) believes that science and empathy go hand in hand. In research that involves animals, respect and welfare are paramount. VUB recently committed to be part of the regional action plan of Flemish Animal Welfare minister Ben Weyts to reduce animal testing.

The chemical compound BPA (bisphenol A), commonly used in plastic products, has been controversial for years due to its adverse health effects. KU Leuven researchers have developed a BPA alternative with similar functionality that has no harmful effects on health or the environment. From lunch boxes, reusable water bottles and cutting boards to snuffle mats for dogs and children's bibs, anyone searching online for "BPA-free" products will be spoilt for choice.

For years, scientists trying to gain a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease or other neurodegenerative disorders - tauopathies, since they involve the tau protein - have come up against one difficulty: how to diagnose the disease - beforehand - in a completely reliable way, since only autopsy today enables us to describe the tau protein aggregates in the brain, and thus to know with certainty what type of neurodegenerative disease the person was suffering from.

On average, we're living longer, but we're not necessarily remaining healthy for longer. Prof Ivan Bautmans, head of the Frailty in Ageing research group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, wants to change this. Based on his expertise in gerontology, the study of ageing, he is coordinating an advisory group of the World Health Organization (WHO) with a focus on healthy ageing.

In Belgium, 40% of people waiting for a transplant are unable to find an organ and therefore have to wait, which is why it is so important to guarantee the success of transplants. One of the major factors in failure is inappropriate dosages of the anti-rejection drug tacrolimus . University of Louvain (UCLouvain)-s Laure Elens and Laure Bindels have uncovered the influence of intestinal microbiota in the variability of the drug's dosages.

According to a series of reports published by WHO and the partner study Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), adolescents who are most likely to have suffered from negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are female, older, from less affluent families, faced prolonged school closures or lacked social support.

Loss of nerve cells is a process that can take place not only in the brain, but also in the (less well-known) nervous system in the gut. A new study, carried out at KU Leuven and published in Nature , shows that specialised immune cells shape this nervous system, enabling the gut to make the transition to solid food early in life.

Currently, only a meagre 1% of the vaccines needed for Africa are produced locally. The ambition is to raise this number to 60% by 2040. Together, KU Leuven and the Institut Pasteur of Dakar are working to overcome several significant challenges, including the need for continuous cooling, time-consuming methods for certain blood analyses in clinical studies, and the lack of vaccines against several deadly tropical diseases.

Because of the large number of different cell types in brain tumors, all of which respond differently to treatment, many patients relapse, and the chances of full recovery are very slim. A new diagnostic test, developed by KU Leuven, indicates from a biopsy whether a treatment can attack all the tumor cells present.

Researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed a highly efficient method for rapid testing the sensitivity of bacteria to antibiotics. The technique, optical nanomotion detection (ONMD), is extremely fast, precise to a single cell and requires only a traditional microscope equipped with a camera or a mobile phone.

Immunotherapy is a powerful way to treat cancer patients but up till now, it was hard to predict why some patients or cancer types do not benefit from this treatment. Researchers could identify markers which predict a patient's or cancer type's response to immunotherapy. For some cancers, immunotherapy can be integrated into the standard treatment but for others, further research is needed to either alter the immunological environment with cancer vaccines or to develop a new type of immunotherapies that target the tumour in another manner.