Gli RNA non codificanti si sono affermati negli anni come regolatori fondamentali dei programmi di sviluppo e funzionamento dei tessuti, in particolare nel sistema nervoso centrale. Il loro cruciale ruolo biologico, insieme al fatto che le loro specifiche attività sono ancora limitatamente caratterizzate, giustifica il notevole interesse che essi attraggono in ricerca biomedica. Questo studio, che nasce da una collaborazione tra Sapienza Università di Roma, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche ...

Nuovo studio sulla rivista Oncogene finanziato da Airc. Regina Elena e Ibpm-Cnr: scoperta regolazione di fattori cruciali per la formazione dei tumori. «La proteina Aurora B - spiega Cinzia Rinaldo (leader del gruppo IBPM) - è spesso deregolata nei tumori e il suo malfunzionamento può portare alla formazione e progressione dei tumori». Dice Gennaro Ciliberto, direttore dell'Ospedale Regina Elena pe rlo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori di Roma: «Il lavoro aggiunge un nuovo tassello che chiarisce ...

Progettati nuovi geni artificiali 'immuno-mimetici' in grado di favorire il recupero muscolare. I risultati dello studio, condotto dal Cnr (IBPM e IBCN), sono stati pubblicati su BBA Molecular Basis of Disease (Marzo 2018). Si chiama Jazz-Zif1 (JZif1) il nuovo gene artificiale capace di aumentare i livelli di utrofina, una proteina in grado di supplire parzialmente all'assenza o al mal funzionamento della distrofina, causa di una delle malattie genetiche più difficili da trattare, la Distrofia ...

' in uscita ad aprile, sulla rivista scientifica 'Stem Cell Research', uno studio che apre nuove prospettive per la cura della malattia di Huntington, frutto della collaborazione tra Andrea Ilari dell'Istituto di biologia e patologia molecolari (Ibpm) del Cnr di Roma e Ferdinando Squitieri dell'Irccs 'Casa Sollievo della sofferenza' di San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia). Il lavoro nasce dall'esigenza di scoprire i meccanismi molecolari coinvolti nello sviluppo di questa patologia genetica ...

INT6/eIF3e is a highly conserved protein involved in several processes and downregulated in many human cancers. In this work, we show that loss of Int6 alters spindle microtubule behavior in mitosis, and hence affects the accuracy of chromosome segregation, by regulating the stability of specific mitotic proteins. Article: The Drosophila orthologue of the INT6 oncoprotein regulates mitotic microtubule growth and kinetochore structure Renda F, Pellacani C, Strunov A, Bucciarelli E, Naim V, ...

The correct synchronization of development of the different tissues of the male organ (stamen) in flowers is essential for male fertility in self-pollinating plants. In this work we demonstrate that the correct distribution of auxin, a plant morphogen, is essential to ensure this synchronization in the model plant Arabidopsis, and that the middle layer - a stamen tissue of previously unknown function - is crucial in generating a developmentally instructive auxin distribution. These findings ...

Resistance to cancer chemotherapeutics, e.g. taxanes and anthracyclines, is largely due to the overexpression of efflux pumps, in particular ABCB1 (P-glycoprotein or MDR1). Resistance leads to poor clinical outcome. Overexpression of a group of genes that surround the ABCB1 genomic locus (the ABCB1 amplicon), including Sorcin (SRI), may contribute to the establishment of the multidrug-resistant phenotype. Here we show that: i) Sorcin is overexpressed in several tumors and cancer cell lines, in ...

Cancer cells show profoundly altered mitotic divisions, and mitotic proteins are viewed as potential targets of novel antineoplastic drugs. Here, we have developed an in silico virtual screening to identify one small molecule targeting the interaction surface between microtubules and the kinetochore protein Hec1, thereby blocking microtubule dynamics. This small molecule effectively inhibits neoplastic growth, both in cultured cancer cells and in murine xenograft models, by promoting mitotic ...

The European consortium Elixir is devoted to coordinate, integrate and sustain bioinformatics resource in LIfe Science research accross Eurpean countries. In this article, the IBPM coordinator and coordinators of other European nodes operating in the ELIXIR-EXCELERATE project (https://www.elixir-europe.org/about-us/how-funded/eu-projects/excelerate), describe the Train-the-Trainer (TtT) programme, designed to empower scientists to deliver high-quality training in bioinformatics. The TtT ...

Striking and eradicate cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue, how? The answer comes from nanomedicine. The research team led by Dr. Ceci is developing "smart" nano-carriers capable of carrying large amounts of anticancer drugs, directing them selectively towards neoplastic cells. The selective delivery to cancer sites is a critical issue in the outcome of currently used cancer therapeutics that distribute non-specifically in the body, thereby damaging healthy as well as cancer cells. ...

Bacteria are highly adaptable and can live in very hostile environments. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a small gas molecule produced by bacteria in our intestine, and is a powerful inhibitor of cellular respiration by blocking the enzyme responsible for oxygen consumption in human cells. The aim of this study was to assess the hypothesis that some enzymes help bacteria to produce energy and survive despite the presence of acid, often damaging human health. The team led by Ibpm, in collaboration ...

The concept is emerging that the persisting memory T lymphocytes in the bone marrow (BM) is essential for immunological memory and successful response to vaccination, yet many questions remain unsolved. Di Rosa has proposed that the BM is essentially a nest for the homeostatic proliferation of memory T cells. Other researchers propose that the BM is rather a storage depot for memory T cells (debate in Nat Rev Immunol, april 2016). In 2016, Di Rosa proposed the "dual-niche" hypothesis, offering ...

A synergic collaboration between soft-matter physicists and molecular biologists of nucleic acid has yielded the realization of a new nano-material, DNA-hydrogel, liquid at low and high temperatures (≤20°C, > 45°C) and gelifies at 32/40°C. The liquid DNA hydrogel at 20°C can be easily injected into the organism and then quickly gelifies at body temperature (37°C). The abilty to gelify at 37°C is the starting point for the design and development of novel DNA-hydrogels as carriers ...

Cytokinesis is the final step in cell division. Errors at this stage prevent the final separation of the newly formed cells and give rise to a single cell, defined as polyploid, harbouring an abnormal chromsome content. Polyploidy promotes in turn chromosomal instability, a hallmark of cancer. Here Rinaldo and collaborators show that HIPK2, a kinase involved in many cell fate decisions during development and in response to stress, controls cytokinesis and prevents the formation of polyploid ...

A study by Italian researchers of CNR-IBPM and Sapienza University of Rome published in the Nature Structural and Molecular Biology was able to depict the structural features of a misfolded intermediate. This study reports the first structure of a misfolded state and represents the first step towards our understanding of the misfolding cascade, the cause of several human pathologies. Incorrectly folded states transiently populated during the protein folding process are potentially prone to ...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe condition characterised by muscle loss and causd by the absence of the cytoskeletal protein dystrophin. The utrophin protein can in part replace distrophyn and alleviate the symptoms associated with dystrophin loss in DMD patients. In this work the IBPM team led by Claudio Passananti sought to obtain therapeutic levels of utrophin expression in dystrophic muscles. They developed artificial transcriptiopn factors based on a particular module, called ...

This work addresses the plant response to conditions of shade. Plants grown under canopies perceive the reduction in the ratio of red (R) to far-red (FR) light as a warning of competition, and they enhance elongation growth in an attempt to overgrow their neighbors. Here, Dr. Ida Ruberti's group report that the same low R/FR signal that induces hypocotyl elongation also triggers a rapid arrest of leaf primordium growth, ensuring that plant resources are redirected into extension growth. We ...

A large body of work indicates that chromosomes play a key role in the assembly of mitotic spindles. Here, we show that Drosophila sspermatocytes can assemble morphologically normal spindles in the absence of chromosomes. The cells containing chromosome-free spindles are also able to assemble regular cytokinetic structures and cleave normally. This suggests that chromosomes are not indispensable for spindle formation or function. Bucciarelli E, Giansanti MG, Bonaccorsi S, Gatti M. Spindle ...