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Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have investigated the long-term effect of hormonal therapy in women with the most common types of hormone-sensitive breast cancer. The results, presented in the journal JAMA Oncology, show that the treatment has a protective effect against distant metastatic cancer for both so-called Luminal A and Luminal B breast cancer subtypes, and a long-term effect for women diagnosed with Luminal A cancer.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have studied the mechanism of action of a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis. The results, which are published in the journal Nature Communications, show that the drug affects cells in the innate immune system and that there is an unexpected link between therapeutic effect and an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species.

An initial gene analysis may yield better outcomes when patients are treated with the antipsychotic drugs risperidone and aripiprazole. A novel study shows how the activity of a specific enzyme, which metabolises the two drugs, affects the individual dose that should be given for optimal treatment. The study is published in The Lancet Psychiatry and has been conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with the Diakonhjemmet Hospital in Oslo, Norway.

More than 20 years ago an American research group released a spectacular idea that the red blood cell was capable of exporting the signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO) and by this mechanism participate in the classical physiological phenomenon known as hypoxic vasodilation, i.e. that our blood vessels automatically widen when oxygen levels become lower to ensure oxygen delivery to tissues (Jia Nature 1996).

New research on how cancer mutations influence a certain type of receptor on the cell membrane opens the way for the development of tailored drugs for certain cancers, such as rectal cancer and lung cancer.

There is a large, untapped potential for developing drugs against cancer, fibrosis and cardiovascular diseases by targeting a family of receptors known as Frizzleds, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden believe. In a new study published in Science Signaling, they identify how these receptors are activated in the cell membrane and the processes that are then triggered within the cell.

In recent years access to drugs and vaccines has been increasing in many African countries, but the systems for monitoring treatment effects and reporting side-effects require further development. Karolinska Institutet will now lead an international collaboration project on pharmacovigilance – drugs safety – in four countries in East Africa.

A study published in Science Translational Medicine shows that small molecules that specifically inhibit an important selenium-containing enzyme may be useful in combating cancer. When researchers at Karolinska Institutet treated cancer in mice using these molecules, they observed rapid tumoricidal effects. Researchers now hope that this new principle for cancer treatment will eventually be developed for use in humans.

The failure of drugs such as SSRIs, used to treat depression, can be a result of genetic variations in patients. Variations within the gene that encodes the CYP2C19 enzyme results in extreme differences in the levels of escitalopram achieved in patients, according to a new study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry. Prescribing the dose of escitalopram based on a patient’s specific genetic constitution would greatly improve therapeutic outcomes.

The dynamics among certain so-called G protein-coupled receptors, of vital importance for the function of cells in the body, are different than previously believed. This has been reported by researchers from Karolinska Institutet in the journal Nature Communications. As these types of receptors are the target for many different medicines, the new finding opens the doors to completely new opportunities within pharmacology and pharmaceutical development.

In the spring of 2016, KI researcher Tore Curstedt was nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Award by the European Patent Office for having devoted his life to Curosurf, a drug that has helped to activate the lungs of millions of preterm babies.

In recent decades much hope was based on the development of personalised drug treatments, in which genetic tests determine the choice and optimal dose of medication for each individual patient. However, the real breakthrough is still to be seen, and now researchers at Karolinska Institutet show in two separate scientific papers that many more gene variants affect how a person responds to medication than previously thought – and thus that today’s analytical tools are too coarse.

Per-Johan Jakobsson, professor of translational inflammatory research, wants to gain a better understanding of chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatism with the aid of proteomics, the large-scale analysis of proteins. His research on prostaglandins may lead to more efficacious drugs for pain and fever in the long term.