Research impulse into hepatoblastoma, the main childhood liver cancer

A collaborative CIBER project will boost hepatoblastoma (HB) research to identify new therapeutic targets that will allow strategies to be developed to improve the prognosis of those children who currently do not survive the disease. The project coordinated by Carolina Armengol, principal CIBEREHD researcher at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) is a collaboration between 5 CIBER groups belonging to the Hepatic and Digestive Diseases area (CIBEREHD) and the Cancer area (CIBERONC).

Less women in scientific production, a reality of the COVID-19 lockdown

A study promoted by the "Women in Science" working group of the Can Ruti Campus, has shown that, from July to October 2020, scientific production was more linked to men. Women, on the other hand, developed a greater number of scientific activities perceived as altruistic.

A study of patients with ovarian cancer highlights the need to identify the mechanisms of resistance to PARP inhibitors to find effective therapies for this tumour

Retreatment with platinum-based chemotherapy as a therapy for relapsed ovarian cancer after progression to PARP inhibitors shows different results for patients with BRCA-mutated and BRCA wild-type tumours.

Mesenchymal stem cells reveal mechanisms of action in regulatory B cells independent of interleukin-10 useful for their identification and monitoring

Researchers from the REMAR-IVECAT ("Kidney Related Diseases Research" and "Innovation in VEsicles and Cells for Application in Therapy") group, from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), identify molecular pathways in regulatory B cells that are essential for their therapeutic applications. In the article that has been recently published in Frontiers in Immunology, the use of mesenchymal stem cells has allowed distinguishing the molecules that are essential to monitoring regulatory B cells in kidney transplants. 

Largest genetic study on stroke to date improves risk prediction

• A group of investigators from the Research Institute of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau - IIB Sant Pau has led the analysis of Spanish data from the largest international study carried out to date on the genetics of stroke risk.
• The results, published by the prestigious journal Nature, allow us to predict, with much more precision, the risk that a person may suffer a stroke. In addition, they provide valuable information on the biological processes involved in this disease, which is helping to find new, more effective treatments.
• The study analyzed data from the International Stroke Genetics Consortium, of which the Spanish Genestroke consortium is a member, and the GCAT|Genomes for Life cohort, from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP).

COVID-19: One in three infected but unvaccinated persons no longer have detectable antibodies one year after the infection

A seroprevalence analysis, conducted on 1,076 people aged 43-72 years, finds that vaccine type, age, and mental health are factors strongly associated with levels of vaccine-induced antibodies.

END-VOC Kicks Off with the Aim of Supporting the Global Response to COVID-19 and Future Pandemics

The European project aims to evaluate the circulation and impact of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern through the study of well-characterised cohorts across the world

Sugars steer stem cell extracellular vesicles to epithelial cells

Researchers at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) discover new facets of the biology of extra-cellular vesicles that will advance their use in therapies. In an article published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences they describe the importance of glycosylation for the interactions between extracellular vesicles from mesenchymal stem cells and endothelial cells.

GCAT contributes to identify a new genetic region linked with the severity of COVID-19 and to extensively characterize a chromosomal inversion

The Severe Covid-19 GWAS Group, the group that reported the first genetic analysis in early pandemic (NEJM, 2020), presents now the new results of an extended GWAS meta-analysis of a well-characterized cohort of 3,260 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure and 12,483 population controls from Italy, Spain, Norway and Germany/Austria, that have been published in Human Molecular Genetics.

Study identifies 11 new genetic regions linked with the susceptibility and severity of COVID-19

An international macro-study in which researchers from the GCAT|Genomes for Life project of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) have participated has located 11 new chromosomal regions involved in susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and in severity COVID-19 clinic. The work is published in the journal Nature.