News archive

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have analysed and described in detail the immune cells residing in the human bile duct. The findings may pave the way for new treatment strategies against disorders of the bile duct, which are often linked to immunological processes. The study is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Hi there, Johanna Simin, PhD student in Clinical Epidemiology at the Centre for Translational Microbiome Research at Karolinska Institutet! You will defend your thesis entitled "The role of oestrogens and antibiotics on the development of cancer" on 1 June 2021. Can you tell us a little more?

The causes of the serious muscle disease ALS still remain unknown. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, among others, have examined a type of cell in the brain blood vessels that could explain the unpredictable disease origins and dynamics. The results indicate a hitherto unknown connection between the nervous and vascular systems. The study, published in Nature Medicine, has potential implications for earlier diagnoses and future treatments.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet show how a certain type of immune cells, macrophages, can be recruited into breast cancer tumors, where they are reprogrammed to support and drive tumor growth. In a study published in the scientific journal PNAS, they describe that low levels of the tumor suppressor protein TAp73 lead to hyperactivation of NFkB signaling and an inflammatory condition in breast cancer as well as secretion of molecules that recruit tumor-promoting macrophages into the tumor.

We can produce spider silk fibers stronger than those created by the spiders themselves. This according to the Professors Jan Johansson (KI) and Anna Rising (KI and SLU).

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet report in the journal Nature that they have developed novel first-in-class inhibitors that compromise mitochondrial function in cancer cells. Treatment with the inhibitors stopped cancer cells from proliferating and reduced tumour growth in mice, without significantly affecting healthy cells.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet and the Helmholtz Diabetes Research Center shows that primary cilia, hair-like protrusions on endothelial cells inside vessels, play an important role in the blood supply and delivery of glucose to the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreatic islets. The findings are published in eLife and may be relevant for transplantation therapies in diabetes, as formation of functional blood vessels is important for the treatment to be successful.

While proteins on the surface of cells are the targets for most drugs, refined methods are needed to analyse how these membrane proteins are organised. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new DNA-based analytical method that could contribute to the development of future drugs for breast and other cancers. The study is published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Georgios Sotiriou, Researcher at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology receives the Smoluchowski award for his research contribution to the fields of aerosol science and technology. The award consists of a certification and a personal prize of 2.000 €.

KI researcher Federico Iovino has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlström's Minnesfonds pris 2020 (Bjarne Ahlström’s Memorial Fund Prize 2020) for his research in Clinical Neurology and on the study of inflammatory mechanisms that affect the function of the central or peripheral nervous system. The prize which consists of SEK 1000,000 is awarded annually and is distributed partly as an individual prize of SEK 50,000, partly as a research grant of SEK 950,000.

By conducting advanced analyses of immune system activation in patients with severe COVID-19, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have managed to identify several cell types that play a key part in the immune response to the new coronavirus and the hyperinflammation seen in severe cases of the disease. The results are published in the scientific journal Cell Reports Medicine.

Knowledge of how human fat tissue is affected by age has long been defined by numerous mouse-based studies. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now, for the first time, been able to conduct a prospective study on humans that provides novel insights into how our fat cells reduce lipid metabolism with age. The study is published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that excessive degradation of the power plants of our cells plays an important role in the onset of mitochondrial disease in children. These inherited metabolic disorders can have severe consequences such as brain dysfunction and neurological impairment. The study is published in EMBO Molecular Medicine.

The enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH), an essential component for the de novo pyrimidine ribonucleotide biosynthesis, has reemerged in the last few years as a target for the development of small molecules with anticancer and antiviral activity.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with a lab in San Antonio USA, have uncovered how a specific population of lymphocytes promotes autoimmune disease by giving up their regulatory role in the immune system. The newly discovered mechanism is published in PNAS from research led by Dr. Saikiran Sedimbi and Prof. Mikael Karlsson.

When Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) infects a cell, the virus often becomes invisible to both the immune system and drugs. Now research from Karolinska Institutet shows that the integrated virus mimics a specific chromatin structure that lets the virus sequence remain accessible while preventing production of new viruses.

In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet show that MAIT cells (mucosa-associated invariant T cells), part of the human immune system, respond with dynamic activity and reprogramming of gene expression during the initial phase of HIV infection. The study fills a knowledge gap, as previously there has been a lack of awareness of the function of MAIT cells during this particular phase.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for patients with social anxiety not only helps to reduce anxiety levels but also seems to protect against accelerated cellular ageing, a study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Translational Psychiatry reports.

The search for a cure to AIDS has partly focused on ways to eradicate infected cells. Now, new research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S. shows that this approach may not be necessary for a functional cure. In a study focusing on a subset of HIV-positive individuals who can live with the virus without needing treatment, the researchers found that these people’s lymphocytes suppress the virus but do not kill off infected cells.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new method for identifying which proteins are affected by specific drugs. The tool and the results it has already generated have been made freely available online. The method is described in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Researchers have long known that some genes can cause cancer when overactive, but exactly what happens inside the cell nucleus when the cancer grows has so far remained enigmatic. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found a new mechanism that renders one canonical driver of cancer overactive. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, create conditions for brand new strategies to fight cancer.

Many people struggle to keep their weight in check as they get older. Now new research at Karolinska Institutet has uncovered why that is: Lipid turnover in the fat tissue decreases during ageing and makes it easier to gain weight, even if we don’t eat more or exercise less than before. The study is published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Circadian biology is becoming a critical factor for improving drug efficacy and diminishing drug toxicity.

Dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid, may be more effective in protecting the auditory system when delivered during the active phase. A novel study shows how the time of the day impacts on the treatment outcome. The study is published in Current Biology and has been conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

Researchers from the global Human Cell Atlas Consortium report that they have sequenced a quarter of a million separate cells that are of importance for early development of organs such as the liver, skin and kidneys. Sten Linnarsson at Karolinska Institutet is participating in the project.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a new cell model for human brain helper cells known as astrocytes. The model could potentially be used in large-scale drug screening in the search for treatments for neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The research is published in the scientific journal Stem Cell Reports.

A high percentage of KIF1Bβ means a greater chance of the tumour spontaneously regressing and disappearing. These are the results of a study by Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd. The study is to be published in the scientific journal Genes and Development.

Reduction systems and protection of cells against oxidative stress are processes not entirely dependent on the electron carrier NADPH as generally believed. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Montana State University have now demonstrated how mice that are incapable of using the primary NADPH-dependent systems in their livers cope perfectly, as long as they get the amino acid methionine via their food. This discovery is published in the journal Nature Communications.