Lysosomes

Lysosomal storage of drugs may influence cancer treatment outcomes

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One of oncology’s biggest challenges is that the same treatment can work well for some patients but fail completely in others. A study published in Nature Communications, from a multi-disciplinary team led by Dr Louise Fets at the LMS, has mapped the distribution of a type of targeted treatments, known as PARP inhibitors, using advanced imaging techniques and patient ovarian tumour samples. The research reveals that build up of these drugs in lysosomes – small compartments inside cells that normally act as “recycling centres” – can trap and … Read more

FDA-approved drug fedratinib enhances communication between cellular organelles

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Cells behave like cities and organelles carry out infrastructural roles: Mitochondria are powerhouses, the endoplasmic reticulum serves as a transport hub and lysosomes help with waste disposal. Communication between different parts of a cell is important for metabolism. This inter-organelle communication can occur at sites where these parts are in contact with each other, known … Read more

Dual targeting strategy may improve treatment for resistant lung cancers

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Findings from a study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) support the potential of new therapies that could improve clinical outcomes for patients with squamous and adenocarcinoma non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) that don’t respond … Read more

Tuberculosis bacteria stiffen cell membranes to evade immune destruction

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Scientists have uncovered an elegant biophysical trick that tuberculosis-causing bacteria use to survive inside human cells, a discovery that could lead to new strategies for fighting one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. Tuberculosis kills more than a million people each year and remains a major public health crisis, particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin … Read more

Grant supports research into how microglia may spread toxic tau in Alzheimer’s

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A researcher with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio has received a two-year, $402,500 grant award from the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund to study how microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, paradoxically might contribute to the spread of toxic forms of tau protein in the disease. Sarah C. … Read more

New findings explain how lysosomal defects trigger neuronal energy failure

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Together with colleagues from Stanford University, USA, researchers at the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) have, for the first time, created a comprehensive cell type-specific atlas of lysosomes in the brain, the cell organelles which are responsible for degradation and recycling processes. The study shows that lysosomes in neurons differ significantly … Read more

Breakthrough study identifies new way to address Alzheimer’s at early stages

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A team of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC has unlocked the details of a cellular pathway that triggers cellular inflammation and aging and is linked to Alzheimer’s disease, particularly among those who carry the APOE4 genetic risk. They have also found a way to return cells to a healthy state, revealing … Read more