A study carried out by teams from the Institut Pasteur, the Institut Cochin (Inserm, CNRS, Paris Descartes University), and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology at the University of Glasgow, may very well redefine current approaches to malaria and toxoplasmosis research in terms of treatment development. Their research which focuses on the role played by the protein AMA1 (present in both parasites) was published october 9, on the Nature Communications website. For many years AMA1 has been the focus of studies aiming to develop malaria treatments and vaccines.

Dengue is currently the most common insect-borne viral disease of humans worldwide. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) have discovered several genetic factors controlling the transmission of various dengue virus strains in a natural population of mosquitoes in Thailand. Their results indicate that the transmission of these viruses in nature depends not only on mosquito genetic factors but also on their specific interaction with viral genetic factors.

Scientists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm have identified several proteins in humans as potential new therapeutic targets for treating the AIDS virus. These proteins are part of a complex cellular mechanism that blocks the virus replication in cells called macrophages. The discovery of this mechanism and the proteins involved gives scientists a solid theoretical basis for developing new therapeutic strategies to be used alongside anti-retroviral treatments currently in use.

In a study published online May 28th for the Lancet Infectious Diseases medical journal, scientists at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and the Institut Pasteur in Morocco once again bring attention to the rapid worldwide spread of Salmonella Kentucky (S. Kentucky), a bacterium showing resistance to several classes of antibiotics. S. Kentucky is responsible for foodborne infections and has spread at an astonishing rate throughout Africa and the Middle East in the space of only a few years.

Using innovative dynamic imaging technique, scientists at the Institut Pasteur, Inserm and the VU Medical Center in Amsterdam have uncovered the mode of action of anti-CD20, an antibody therapy frequently used in the treatment of lymphomas (cancers of the immune system) as well as some auto-immune diseases. In a lymphoma model, the scientists have been able to carry out real time in vivo imaging of the cellular events activated by the treatment and resulting in the destruction of tumor cells.

A phase I/II gene therapy clinical trial for children suffering from Sanfilippo B syndrome, a rare genetic disease, enrolled a first patient in October of this year. The trial is being carried out and coordinated by the Institut Pasteur (the trial’s sponsor), Inserm, AFM-Téléthon and Vaincre les Maladies Lysosomales (VML). It is being conducted at Bicêtre Hospital (AP-HP) in Paris. If the treatment is successful it will pave the way towards the development of other gene therapy treatments using the same process.

A team of scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS and Paris Diderot University has identified a new regulation mechanism that enables a pathogenic bacterium of the Streptococcus genus to rapidly adapt to its host. This study was published on January 16, 2014 in PLoS Pathogens. The mechanism in question enables the bacterium to minimize its exposure to the immune system while maintaining effective tissue colonization. This work was carried out on Streptococcus gallolyticus, an intestinal tract bacterium responsible for endocarditis and septicemia in the elderly.

Dans une étude publiée le 16 janvier dans PLoS Pathogens, une équipe composée de chercheurs de l’Institut Pasteur, du CNRS, et de l’université Paris Diderot, a identifié un nouveau mécanisme de régulation qui permet l'adaptation rapide d‘une bactérie pathogène du genre Streptococcus à son hôte. Ce mécanisme permet à cette bactérie de minimiser son exposition au système immunitaire et de maintenir une bonne capacité de colonisation des tissus.

Les premiers résultats issus de cette avancée technique ont permis d'élaborer un nouveau concept pour éliminer les rechutes de paludisme dues au réveil de ces formes dormantes. Il devrait permettre la mise en place d'une nouvelle stratégie de prise en charge de cette pathologie, qui associerait une molécule capable de réveiller le parasite dormant à un des nombreux médicaments efficaces sur le parasite. Ces résultats viennent d'être publiés dans la revue Nature Medicine*.

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