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Liver cancer is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. So far, the treatment options for two types of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), have been inadequate, while the number of new cases has been rising. A study by researchers at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) now offers hope. A vaccine based on a highly attenuated infectious agent called Listeria monocytogenes proved to be safe and effective protection in premalignant and malignant liver diseases in preclinical mouse models.

An international research team from TWINCORE - Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, a joint facility of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Hannover Medical School, describes the dual effect of the endogenous substance itaconic acid, which is both antiviral and anti-inflammatory. Their study, which has now appeared in the journal PLoS Pathogens, opens up perspectives for possible therapeutic applications of itaconic acid against severe courses of disease in viral infections. 

Pharma-backed incubator INCATE selected the HZI start-up project Myxobiotics as one of the first start-ups to get support. Myxobiotics develops a new class of antibiotics against Acinetobacter baumannii, which causes severe, difficult-to-treat respiratory infections. Myxobiotics’ approach is based on a new class of natural compounds (cystobactamids) discovered and developed as antibacterial agents by Prof Rolf Müller and Prof Mark Brönstrup and their teams at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) and Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), together with Dr Thomas Hesterkamp and Evotec. The HIPS is a site of the HZI in collaboration with Saarland University.

The Minister President of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, visited the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) today, 4 February 2022. The visit focused on the current challenges and innovative approaches, especially in combating the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and the future development of infection research in Lower Saxony. He also delivered a message of thanks to the scientists at the research centre in Braunschweig.

Viruses are mostly encountered as pathogens. However, virus-based vaccination platforms can also help to provide protection from different diseases. In a mouse model, researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig together with national and international partners including the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research (DPZ), the Technische Universität Braunschweig and the University of Rijeka, Croatia, have developed a novel cytomegalovirus-based vaccine against different respiratory viruses. A single dose of the vaccine that consists of a cytomegalovirus that incorporates genes from coronavirus or influenza A efficiently protected mice from the respiratory infections. The results on the vaccine candidate, which is not yet market-ready, were published in the journal Cellular & Molecular Immunity.

Principal Investigator Mathias Munschauer aims to better understand SARS-CoV-2. He now receives funding of 1.5 million euros for his research project “COVIDecode” from the European Research Council (ERC). Munschauer is the third scientist at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg to be awarded an ERC grant.