| Sciencemag.cz, 17 March 2026 ‘Tumours emerge based on very concrete changes at the molecular level in cancer cells but also based on the behaviour of other cells in their microenvironment. If we get to know these mechanisms in detail, we could identify new therapeutic targets and develop treatments that would target the very cause of the disease, not just its symptoms. Progress in science therefore precedes progress in clinical medicine,’ emphasises Aleksi Šedo, Director of NICR. | | Téma, 27 March 2026 Genome sequencing is one of the greatest breakthroughs in modern biology and medicine; it opens the doors to the vast amount of information hidden in our DNA. ‘From genome analysis, we can find whether a person has predispositions to performance or endurance sports, how resistant one is to various addictions, but above all it can reveal innate dispositions to diseases,’ says Marián Hajdúch, Medical Director of NICR and initiator of the CzechGenome project. | | Aktuální témata v onkologii očima českých lékařů, March 2026 This issue of a popular journal newly introduces NICR’s research teams. In the March edition, readers can learn more about Lenka Bešše and her group at the Institute of Biology of the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University, where they study immunotherapy of tumours, about Petr Džubák’s group in the Laboratory for early diagnostics and therapy of tumours of the Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of Palacky University and University Hospital Olomouc, or about the Laboratory of cancer cell biology at Institute of Biochemistry and Experimental Oncology of the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, which is headed by Aleksi Šedo. | | Medical Tribune, 8 April 2026 New findings from Marek Mráz’s laboratory open the way to therapeutic targeting of CD40 signalling in transformation of follicular lymphoma. In their study, recently published by the prestigious Leukemia journal, the authors have conducted the first pair-wise analysis of the expression of messenger RNA (mRNA) and short non-coding RNA (miRNA) in samples of patients with follicular lymphoma. The samples were taken once before their disease became transformed and after it. Analysis helped identify different expression patterns in 1,075 mRNAs and 19 miRNAs, including a downregulation of the entire family of miR‑29. | | Vesmír, 27 April 2026 Scientists from NICR’s research team Cancer microenvironment have identified, together with colleagues from the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Institute of Pathology of the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University and University Hospital in Prague, a new protein that could help scientists to better detect cells that significantly influence the behaviour of cancerous tumours. ‘A thorough analysis of gene activity had shown that fibroblasts from different types of tumours often express also a different isoform of actin, so-called γSMA,’ adds Michal Španko, the main author of the study that was recently published in the Histochemistry and Cell Biology journal. | | iDnes.cz, 5 May 2026 Three years ago, the talented floorball player Adam Choma was stopped in his tracks by a brain tumour. After treatment, he wanted to start training again, but cancer had returned and spread into his bones. He was saved by paediatric oncologists in Brno. Now, he is trying to help them improve care for young adults who suffer from tumours typical for paediatric patients. ‘In children, tumours have a different biology, usually grow much faster than in adults, and metastasise earlier, but also mostly respond better to anti-tumour treatment if it is started quickly and correctly’, says Jaroslav Štěrba, Science Director of NICR and head of the Department of Paediatric Oncology of the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University and University Hospital Brno. |
|
