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Document de presse | 2008.11.04
Nicotine: a receptor from the past helping to develop drugs of the future
Researchers at the Institut Pasteur and CNRS have just determined the structure of a bacterial protein similar to the human nicotine receptor, and have published this result in the journal Nature. This is an important step for the molecular modeling of substances able to interact with this receptor and which could help treatment of nicotine addiction. Nicotine is the principal substance in...
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Document de presse | 2008.10.22
A new source of neurons in the adult brain
Researchers at the Institut Pasteur and CNRS have just identified a new source of neurons in the adult brain. Their study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, provides proof of the brain's intrinsic capacity to self-repair. This work also opens unexpected perspectives for the development of therapies, particularly the treatment of neurodegenerative pathologies, such as Parkinson's...
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Document de presse | 2008.10.13
A new mechanism of resistance to dengue virus
It is becoming increasingly common to see individuals infected by the dengue virus who develop an ultimately fatal hemorrhagic syndrome, particularly in children during epidemics. However, in most cases, dengue remains a generally benign or even asymptomatic viral infection. One explanation for this phenomenon has just been put forward by researchers from CNRS , Institut Pasteur ,...
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Document de presse | 2008.09.16
How Listeria crosses the placental barrier to infect the fetus
A study conducted by the group directed by Marc Lecuit (Avenir Inserm / Group Microorganisms and barriers host the Pasteur Institute), at the Inserm unit U604 directed by Pascale Cossart, has uncovered how the bacterium responsible for Listeriosis (Listeria monocytogenes) can cross the placenta of pregnant women to cause serious fetal infections —even death—, premature birth and...
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Document de presse | 2008.04.23
Shigellosis: how the bacterium neutralizes our immune defenses
Institut Pasteur researchers working together with Inserm have recently discovered how Shigella, the bacterium responsible for an acute inflammatory disease of the intestine, is able to destroy our initial immune defenses so that it can survive and invade the mucosa. An understanding of such mechanisms opens up useful therapeutic possibilities both for the treatment of shigellosis and for all...
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Document de presse | 2008.02.05
Legionnaire's Disease: towards rapid diagnostic tests
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS, in collaboration with the National Reference Centre for Legionella (INSERM) in Lyon, compared the genomic content of dozens of strains of the bacterium responsible for "Legionnaires' disease". Their study, published in "Genome Research", opens the way for developing rapid diagnostic tests, which are at present lacking for...
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Document de presse | 2007.12.11
A new candidate vaccine for dengue
Researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS have developed and demonstrated the validity of a new paediatric candidate vaccine against dengue. Their research, published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, delivers promising results for the fight against this disease, which currently threatens a third of the world's population, and against which there is still no specific...
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Document de presse | 2007.12.09
How the anthrax bacterium eludes our immune defenses
After having demonstrated the protective role of one of the enzymes of our natural immunity against B. anthracis, the anthrax bacterium, researchers from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, and the CNRS explain how the bacillus is capable of evading the bactericidal action of this enzyme: this bacterium produces a toxin that inhibits the enzyme synthesis. This research*, published in PloS Pathogens,...
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Document de presse | 2007.11.12
Malaria: the importance of the MSP3 candidate vaccine has been confirmed
A vast immunoepidemiological study, published in PLoS Medicine, has just confirmed the importance of a candidate vaccine against malaria, named MSP3, under development at the Institut Pasteur. The study shows that the antibodies directed against this molecule, produced by the exposed subjects, are closely associated with protection against the disease, including among young children—unlike...
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Document de presse | 2007.07.12
Leptospirosis: the first virulence gene identified
Although leptospirosis is one of the so-called "neglected" diseases, it still causes some 500,000 severe cases in humans around the world each year and also comprises a veterinary problem. A century after the pathogenic agent that causes the disease was found, researchers at the Institut Pasteur have discovered a gene that is essential to the bacteria's virulence. Their work,...