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BP Medications Linked to Fewer Complications in Ulcerative Colitis Treatment

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A class of blood-pressure medications may improve a widely used treatment for ulcerative colitis, the most common type of inflammatory bowel disease, according to a study led by Northwestern Medicine and Kiel University of thousands of patients.

The study found that those taking the blood-pressure meds for hypertension alongside vedolizumab (Entyvio) were less likely to experience serious complications resulting in hospitalisation and surgery to remove the colon. The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

Most patients with ulcerative colitis do not achieve lasting remission with available treatments, including advanced therapies such as vedolizumab.

“You’re talking about teens or young adults who are suffering from uncontrollable diarrhoea, bloody stool and an inability to function at school, work, or go out and have normal social interactions,” said Dr Parambir Dulai, associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “And the psychosocial and physical impact of the disease is substantial, to the point where it may be on par with cancer in terms of the impact. Finding a new pathway where we have the potential to repurpose an inexpensive, generic, readily available medication could offer a tremendous reprieve for a lot of these young adults who are suffering on a daily basis.”

Dr Dulai, Dr Stefan Schreiber of Kiel University and colleagues analysed data from more than 1,300 patients in two clinical trials of vedolizumab for ulcerative colitis. By tracking symptom changes (stool frequency and rectal bleeding), they identified different response patterns.

Tissue biopsies and blood samples then showed that poor response was linked to vascular inflammation in the colon involving a pathway already targeted by ACE inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs).

Analysis of healthcare data from nearly 9000 ulcerative colitis patients with hypertension confirmed that, among those on vedolizumab, ACE-inhibitor or ARB use was associated with lower rates of hospitalisation or surgery. Other antihypertensive classes showed no such association, and the benefit was specific to vedolizumab.

Clinical trials are now needed to confirm the findings and to explore applicability in patients with normal blood pressure. “We don’t know yet if you can use anti-hypertensive medications in normal-tensive patients. People who have normal blood pressure, you don’t want to give them a medicine to drop their blood pressure,” said Dr Dulai. “There may be other ways to target that same pathway without the other effects that are present from blood pressure medications. In other words, our study offers a rationale to start thinking about developing drugs specifically for this.”

The team is also developing a diagnostic test based on the markers identified in non-responders, which could allow earlier identification of patients likely to respond or better suited to alternatives.

Source: Northwestern University

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‘Living Medicine’ Tackles Drug-resistant Biofilms Growing on Ventilation Tubes

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Scanning electron microscope images of the inner surface of breathing tubes in an infected pig showing the thick bacterial film that builds up on surface of ventilator tubes. Credit: Laia Fernández Barat and Kasra Kiarostami /Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS

A ‘living medicine’ has thinned biofilms of antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lungs of pigs, according to the findings of a study published in the journal eBioMedicine.

The experimental treatment involves inhaling a genetically modified bacterium designed to target layers of drug-resistant P. aeruginosa that grow on the surfaces of endotracheal tubes used in hospitals.

It’s the first time the experimental treatment, which has previously only been shown to tackle biofilms in mice, has also worked in pigs, a large animal with lungs that are similar in size, structure and immune response to human lungs.

It’s also the first time the treatment has been shown to be administrable through a nebuliser, the same type of medical device human patients would use. Breathing in the “living medicine” thinned the biofilm inside breathing tubes from 6.08 to 3.67 micrometres, reducing thickness by around 40%.

The treatment involves Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterium which normally causes a mild lung infection but, through genetic engineering, has been repurposed to be harmless for humans. The engineered bacterium was loaded with genes that dissolve sugars holding a biofilm together, as well as toxins that specifically only target Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

“Our study is part of an emerging field of medicine known as live biotherapeutics. In this case we’ve taken a bacterium naturally adapted to the lung and reprogrammed it so that it delivers therapeutic molecules instead of causing damage. It’s a Trojan horse strategy against disease,” explains Dr Irene Rodríguez-Arce, senior co-author of the study.

When examining the lungs afterwards, there were no signs of damage caused by the engineered bacterium. The treatment also showed no measurable effect on the animals’ own airway bacteria, suggesting the living medicine targets Pseudomonas specifically.

The study could one day help patients who cannot breathe for themselves in hospital. They are usually kept alive by passing a tube into the windpipe. Within days, bacteria colonise the inside of that tube and form a slimy, protective layer called a biofilm.

Antibiotics given through a drip struggle to penetrate the physical barrier of biofilms, causing recurring infections. In intubated patients, this is a known cause of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Around 1 in 4 cases are caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is frequently resistant to several types of antibiotics.

“Antibiotic resistance is a silent pandemic we see affecting intubated patients every day and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is among the hardest infections to clear,” says Laia Fernández Barat, first author of the study. “Our work represents a different line of attack, and one we badly need,” adds Dr Antoni Torres, senior co-author of the study.

The authors say their findings support a future first-in-human safety trial. Combining the “living medicine” with intravenous antibiotics or making further tweaks to the molecules that dissolve biofilms could further improve the experimental treatment’s effectiveness.

“I am confident that with modifications to the bacterial chassis’ payload, we could completely dissolve the biofilms on the surface of endotracheal tubes and clear P. aeruginosa infections entirely,” explains ICREA Research Professor Luis Serrano, senior co-author of the study.

The research team at the CRG are also creating versions of the living medicine that can tackle pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer.

The study is a collaboration between the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS, both in Barcelona, with the animal studies carried out at the University of Barcelona. It was led by co-first authors Laia Fernández-Barat and Ana Motos, with Antoni Torres, Luis Serrano and Irene Rodríguez-Arce as senior authors. The study is funded by the “la Caixa” Foundation and the European Research Council.

10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106537

Source: Centre for Genomic Regulation

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Potential MND Therapy Restores Neuron Communication in the Lab

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A novel potential treatment approach for motor neuron disease (MND), similar to the approach being pursued with an investigational drug that recently entered human clinical trials, has been shown to restore broken communication between neurons in lab models of the disease. This could have beneficial therapeutic implications for 97% of people with MND, for whom there is currently no significant disease-modifying treatment.

Findings from a new study published in Nature, co-authored by researchers from King’s College London, University College London (UCL) and the Francis Crick Institute, along with Leibniz-FMP and Trace Neuroscience, pinpointed a single error in a key gene involved in MND that causes communication between neurons to break down, and used a drug to restore it in human neurons in the lab.

MND/ALS is a devastating and ultimately fatal disease that causes progressive muscle weakness due to the degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. As the disease advances, patients gradually lose the ability to move, speak, swallow and breathe. It is estimated to affect 1 in 300 people in their lifetime and there is no cure.

Currently, there are approved and experimental treatments for two rare genetic forms of ALS, which account for under 3% of cases. There is no significant disease-modifying treatment available for the remaining 97%. All of these cases share one feature: a key protein called TDP-43 stops doing its job correctly.

Normally, this protein is a proofreader for genetic material. Without this proofreading protein, neurons cannot process genetic material correctly, resulting in faulty proteins that are unable to carry out their normal roles.

By recreating in the lab what happens in human neurons when TDP-43 fails, researchers were able to see the knock-on effects of losing this proofreading protein on how neurons function. They found that without proper proofreading, there were errors in production of another key protein called UNC13A that normally lets neurons send signals to each other. Common genetic variants in UNC13A are already among the strongest known risk factors for MND.

The study found that a single error in how UNC13A is produced drastically reduced neuron communication. The researchers designed a type of drug, called an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) to specifically target this error and were able to restore production of functional UNC13A protein, letting the neurons communicate again.

Another ASO that targets UNC13A dysfunction through a similar mechanism is already in clinical development in humans in the UK, Europe and China. Last month, the first UK participants were dosed with TRCN-1023 in Trace Neuroscience’s Phase 1/2 FUNCTION ALS clinical trial. UCL is a participating trial site.

We were surprised to see that restoring just one genetic event, out of the hundreds disrupted, was enough to allow neurons to talk to each other again.

Professor Juan Burrone, Professor of Developmental Neurophysiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London.

Professor Pietro Fratta, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience at UCL and Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute said:

“Our previous work told us UNC13A is important in ALS progression, but we still did not know in which way and to what extent it plays a role. We have now learned it’s the main driver of synaptic release deficits upon TDP-43 dysfunction, and have developed very effective antisense oligonucleotides to rescue this deficit. Excitingly these drugs have already entered clinical trials.”

Dr Rachel Jackson, one of the first authors on the paper, who carried out the research while she was a Research Associate at King’s, said:

“I used a live imaging technique that allowed me to see neurons signalling to each other under the microscope. Using this method, I saw that neurons with a change that mimics MND communicated less than neurons without the change.”

Source: King’s College London

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Jolting Awake Often is Associated with Poorer Sleep and Higher Anxiety, Survey Finds

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An online survey of 194 adults in Austria and Germany compared those who startle awake at least weekly with those who never or only rarely do.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

People who frequently startle awake while falling asleep – a phenomenon researchers call ‘sleep starts’ or hypnic jerks – report poorer sleep quality, greater insomnia severity, and higher anxiety than those who do not, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by Tanja Grünberger and Manuel Schabus of Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Austria, and colleagues.

Sleep starts are sudden jolts that occur in the moments between wakefulness and sleep, most often felt as an abrupt muscle jerk or twitch, sometimes strong enough to jolt a person fully awake. The experience can also involve a sudden sensation of falling or loss of balance, electric-shock-like feelings, tingling or numbness, flashes of light, or brief, dream-like imagery. These experiences are frequently accompanied by a rush of emotion – alarm, confusion, fear, or panic – and physical signs of a startle response, such as a racing heart or rapid breathing. Afterward, most people fall back asleep quickly.

In the new study, researchers conducted an online survey of 194 adults in Austria and Germany who answered questions about their sleep quality, insomnia severity, daytime sleepiness, dysfunctional sleep-related beliefs, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. 96 of the participants experienced abrupt awakenings and at least one other symptom weekly, while the other 98 were used as a control group.

Compared with the control group, the sleep-starts group reported poorer sleep quality, greater insomnia severity, more dysfunctional sleep-related beliefs, and higher anxiety and depressive symptoms than those in the control group (all statistically significant). How often people experienced sleep starts was also linked to sleep quality, sleep beliefs, and anxiety, but not depression. Together, these factors, along with age and gender, were associated with about a quarter of the differences between people in sleep start frequency (26.9%). Participants also reported more frequent sleep starts during periods of psychological stress and emotional strain, whereas sleep deprivation was less influential on the frequency of sleep starts.

“These findings support the view that sleep starts should be considered within broader frameworks of sleep-related hyperarousal and cognitive-emotional activation,” the authors write. “Although causality cannot be inferred from these cross-sectional self-report data, the results highlight potentially relevant links between sleep starts and sleep-related cognitive-emotional processes.”

“These findings support the view that sleep starts should be considered within broader frameworks of sleep-related hyperarousal and cognitive-emotional activation,” the authors write. “Although causality cannot be inferred from these cross-sectional self-report data, the results highlight potentially relevant links between sleep starts and sleep-related cognitive-emotional processes.” First author Tanja Grünberger says: “Because there is no established questionnaire for sleep starts, we developed our own items based on the clinical literature. This allowed us to capture a broad range of experiences – but it also means that our findings now need to be confirmed with validated instruments and objective sleep recordings.” 

Dr Grünberger adds: “Sleep starts are much more than a simple muscle twitch when falling asleep. Participants described not only jerks, but also sensations of falling, a racing heart, flashes of light or loud bangs, and strong feelings of alarm or fear – and those who reported sleep starts at least once a week also reported poorer sleep quality, more unhelpful beliefs about sleep and more anxiety symptoms.”

She continues: “What we found most interesting was how closely sleep starts are linked to how people think and feel about sleep. The more strongly participants held unhelpful beliefs about sleep and the more anxious they were, the more often they reported sleep starts – and in the moment itself, many described a strong pressure to finally fall asleep. Our data cannot show what causes what, but this pattern resembles what we know from insomnia.”

 Senior author Manuel Schabus explains prospective next steps for their research: “For most people, sleep starts are a harmless feature of falling asleep. For a subgroup, however, they go along with distress and a longer time to fall asleep. Whether approaches that reduce arousal and sleep-related worry also help with distressing sleep starts has not yet been tested – that is an important next step.”

Provided by PLOS

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Health Coverage Linked More to Income than World Region

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WHO and UN data from 194 countries analysed links between health coverage and the human development index.

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Higher levels of human development are associated with better universal health coverage worldwide, and disparities in coverage between income groups are generally larger than disparities between world regions. Those are two of the conclusions of a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Akira Hayasaka of Yokohama City University, Japan, Yasuhiro Nakanishi of the National Institute of Public Health, Japan, and colleagues.

Universal health coverage (UHC) is a core target of the Sustainable Development Goals, tracked using the UHC Service Coverage Index (SCI), a composite score built from four domains: reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health; infectious diseases; noncommunicable diseases; and service capacity and access. UHC and human development are closely linked because of how greater access to health care leads to better health outcomes in general (due to preventative care, screenings, vaccinations, etc). However, how this relationship varies across coverage domains, income groups, and world regions over time has not been systematically examined.

In the new study, researchers conducted a retrospective, country-level longitudinal analysis using 7 different years of publicly available World Health Organization and United Nations data spanning 2000-2021. The dataset allowed them to compare the UHC Service Coverage Index and its four sub-indices with the Human Development Index (HDI) and its components across World Bank income groups and WHO regions.

After adjusting for other variables, low-income countries had significantly lower UHC coverage than high-income countries (21% lower overall), with the largest gaps in the infectious disease domain (31% lower). These income-group disparities were generally larger than differences between WHO regions. A 0.1-unit increase in HDI was associated with a 6.8-point higher overall UHC score (95% CI 5.6–8.1), with the strongest association for service capacity and access (11.7 points) and the weakest for noncommunicable diseases (2.2 points).

The study measured countries, not individuals, so it could not capture inequalities in coverage within countries, and changes to the index’s underlying indicators over time limit comparisons across different report editions. However, the researchers concluded that higher levels of human development were associated with better UHC coverage, and that persistent disparities exist across income groups. 

“These findings may help policymakers interpret the UHC SCI and its sub-indices in the context of their country’s broader development trajectory,” the authors say.

The authors add: “Higher levels of human development were associated with better health service coverage, although the strength of this relationship differed across domains. We believe that our findings, which demonstrate that development in sectors beyond healthcare is associated with access to healthcare services, can provide valuable insights into strategies for creating a healthier world.”

Provided by PLOS

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Only 1 in 4 Stem Cell Donors in South Africa Are Men

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Men make up just 28% of potential blood stem cell donors on a registry of more than 210 000 in South Africa, despite growing evidence that younger male donors can play an important role in successful transplant outcomes.

Women outnumber men by more than two to one on the registry, highlighting a significant need for greater male representation. Young men aged 17 to 25 account for just 11% of registered donors. Although men’s share of new registrations has risen from 19% in 2021 to 31% in 2025, they remain significantly underrepresented. Yet men accounted for 40% of the 42 stem cell donations collected from the registry in 2025.

Research suggests that donor age and sex can influence transplant outcomes. A study of more than 10,000 unrelated donor transplants found that male and younger donors were associated with improved event-free survival, with researchers recommending male donors aged 18 to 30 when several suitable donors in that age group were available. A separate analysis of 452 transplant patients also linked male donors to better overall survival and faster platelet recovery. Other research has revealed that men also tend to yield larger numbers of stem cells.

Yet, despite being underrepresented on the registry, men accounted for 40% of the 42 stem cell donations facilitated through the registry in 2025.

“When a transplant team searches the registry, age and other characteristics can influence which suitable donor they select,” says Palesa Mokomele, Head of Community Engagement and Communications at DKMS Africa. “On International Men’s Day, we’re encouraging more men to register and learn about what’s involved in donating stem cells.”

She says misconceptions about the process, along with concerns about taking time off work, can discourage potential donors. “Some men assume that donating stem cells means undergoing surgery, or worry that they can’t afford to take time off work. In most cases, stem cells are collected from the bloodstream through a procedure similar to donating blood, and DKMS Africa covers the costs associated with donation.”

Former Springbok Jaco Pretorius once shared some of these misconceptions. He registered as a donor in 2018 after watching his best friend’s life being saved by a stem cell transplant. Four years later, he was identified as a match for a patient.

“My experience is that people are not aware of the great need in our country and the simplicity of the process,” he explains. “The perception is that it is a painful procedure which carries personal risk. My personal experience was the complete opposite, which I try my best to communicate as far as possible to potential donors.”

After blood tests and medical checks, Pretorius donated through peripheral blood stem cell collection. The procedure took a few hours, and he experienced no side effects. He later learned through DKMS Africa that the transplant had been successful, and that the recipient was healthy.

“That was one of the best feelings, to know that through such a simple action, someone else’s life was saved,” he recalls.

Pretorius now hosts donor registration drives along with DKMS Africa to encourage others to join the registry. However, Mokomele stresses that signing up is only the beginning. “Joining the registry is incredibly important, but it doesn’t end there. If you’re identified as a potential match, we need to be able to reach you. Keeping your contact details up to date and being willing to donate when the time comes could make all the difference to someone waiting for a transplant.”

South Africans aged 17 to 55 who meet the health requirements can register at www.dkms-africa.org/register-now, while existing donors can update their contact details here.

For more information, contact DKMS Africa on 0800 12 10 82.

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Cluster Headache Linked to Pronounced Levels of Burnout Symptoms

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People with cluster headache often experience more than intense pain. A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Headache, suggests that many also report symptoms of burnout and exhaustion, particularly during periods when headache attacks are frequent. The findings underline the importance of addressing sleep, recovery and daily functioning as part of patient care.

Cluster headache is a neurological condition characterised by recurring attacks of severe headache. In the new study, researchers investigated whether people with cluster headache also experience symptoms associated with burnout and exhaustion.

Burnout symptoms common during active periods

The results show that symptoms of burnout and exhaustion were common, particularly among people who were in an active period of cluster headache attacks. Around two thirds of participants in an active period reported high levels of burnout and exhaustion symptoms, compared with about one third of those whose condition was in remission. Symptoms also tended to decrease the longer a person had been free from attacks.

“Our study shows that cluster headache can drain people’s energy far beyond the headache attacks themselves. The high levels of burnout symptoms, especially during active periods, highlight the need to support sleep, recovery and daily functioning as part of cluster headache care,” says the study’s first author Felicia Jennysdotter Olofsgård, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Neuroscience.

Sleep may play an important role

The researchers also found a strong connection between sleep and burnout symptoms. Poor sleep was associated with higher levels of exhaustion, and sleep deprivation was more often reported as a trigger for headache attacks among participants with high burnout symptom scores.

The study is based on an online survey of people with cluster headache in Sweden. Participants answered questions about their headache status, sleep, lifestyle and symptoms of exhaustion. The researchers then compared responses from people experiencing active headache periods with those who were in remission.

As the study is based on survey data collected at a single point in time, the researchers were able to identify associations between different symptoms, but not establish cause and effect. In addition, some diagnoses were self-reported.

A broader view of cluster headache

According to the researchers, the findings suggest that the impact of cluster headache extends beyond the pain itself. Severe exhaustion may affect a person’s ability to work, recover and take part in everyday life. Burnout symptoms have not previously been studied specifically in people with cluster headache, making this an important area for future research.

“These findings suggest that healthcare professionals should pay closer attention to sleep and signs of exhaustion in people with cluster headache. Improving recovery may be an important part of helping patients manage their condition,” says Andrea Carmine Belin, principal researcher at the same department.

The next step is to follow people with cluster headache over time to better understand how burnout symptoms develop before, during and after active headache periods, and whether interventions aimed at sleep and recovery could improve daily life. A further goal is to better understand which patients are at greatest risk, so that healthcare professionals can identify them earlier and offer support before exhaustion becomes severe.

The study is a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Danderyd Hospital and Stockholm University, and is funded primarily by the Mellby Gård Foundation, the Swedish Brain Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, Karolinska Institutet’s research funds and the Magnus Bergvall Foundation.

Source: Karolinska Institutet

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Single IV Iron Infusion Boosts Exercise Capacity in Iron-deficient Heart Failure

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A randomised trial from the Mass General Brigham Heart and Vascular Institute showed that a single 1000mg intravenous dose of ferric derisomaltose improved peak oxygen uptake and other functional measures at 12 weeks in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and iron deficiency.

The IRON-MET HFpEF trial randomised 65 symptomatic participants (median age 68 years; 72% women; iron deficiency present in >50% of HFpEF overall) 2:1 to the iron infusion or placebo. Oral iron has previously proved ineffective in other heart-failure phenotypes, attributed to poor absorption. Results were presented at the 2026 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions and published simultaneously in Circulation.

At 12 weeks, peak VO₂ rose by approximately 10% in the iron arm and was unchanged with placebo. Pre-specified secondary endpoints (six-minute walk distance, VO₂ at the anaerobic threshold, and NYHA class) also improved, as did markers of iron bioavailability. Patient-reported health scores did not differ significantly. No serious adverse events were linked to the infusion.

Lead author Dr Gregory D. Lewis stated that the study was the first to comprehensively evaluate exercise responses to iron repletion in this population and that ferric derisomaltose improved multiple capacity measures. Dr Rajeev Malhotra noted that the peak VO₂ increment is clinically meaningful; longer-term outcome studies in more diverse cohorts are now required.

Source: Mass General Brigham

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Nearly 3% Continue with Opioid Use Following Surgery

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Around 7000 patients a year in Sweden who have not previously used opioids continue to collect their prescriptions several months after surgery, which increases the risk of dependence, a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet shows. The thesis also shows that the amount of opioids prescribed following major surgery can be reduced.

Opioids are effective medicines for severe pain following surgery, but prolonged use is associated with risks such as dependence and overdose. In his thesis, Claes Gedda at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, investigated how common it is for patients in Sweden to continue using opioids after surgery, which patients are at higher risk, and whether usage following major surgery can be reduced.

The largest study included 1 245 211 adults who underwent surgery in Sweden between 2018 and 2022 and who had not collected opioids for most of the year prior to their operation. Of these, 35 132 people, or 2.82%, continued to collect opioids both during the first 3 months and during months 4 to 6 after surgery.

”This corresponds to around 7000 patients per year in Sweden who collect opioids long after they should have recovered from surgery”, says Claes Gedda.

The risk was higher, for example, among older people and those with greater comorbidity, a recent cancer diagnosis, chronic pain, anxiety or depression, as well as alcohol or drug problems. Emergency surgery was also linked to a higher risk. Patients who collected opioids during the first week after surgery were more than twice as likely to still be collecting them several months later.

“Our results show that part of the risk can be identified even before surgery. At the same time, post-operative prescribing is a factor that the healthcare system can actually influence,” says Claes Gedda.

Different approach were used

In a study of 842 patients who underwent major colon and rectal surgery, an approach was used whereby opioids were administered on an as-needed basis rather than according to a fixed schedule, alongside other pain-relieving medicines. Over a four-year period, the median consumption of opioids fell by 70% and, towards the end of the study, almost one in three patients received no opioids at all during the first six days after surgery.

”This shows that it is possible to reduce the amount of opioids used after surgery. However, we do not yet know whether reduced early use also reduces the risk of long-term use. This needs to be investigated further,” says Claes Gedda.

The doctoral thesis was supervised by Mattias Soop at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet. The public defence will take place on 4 December 2026.

Doctoral thesis

”New Persistent Opioid Use After Surgery — Incidence and a Potential Alternative to Opioids”, Claes Gedda, Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, December 2026.

Facts about doctoral theses

A doctoral thesis is the final written product of a postgraduate education, which in Sweden corresponds to four years of full-time studies. It varies between different disciplines how a doctoral thesis is structured. In the field of medicine, the doctoral student usually collects three to five scientific articles and presents them together with a thesis summary or overview, a so-called ‘kappa’ (literally meaning overcoat in Swedish). After the doctoral student has passed the public defence of the thesis, he or she receives a doctoral degree (also called a PhD), which is the highest possible educational degree in Sweden. Karolinska Institutet has approximately 2000 active doctoral students and each year approximately 350 doctoral theses are published at our university.

Source: Karolinska Institutet

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Experimental Treatment Promotes Repair After Heart Attack Damage in Animal Study

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Cross sections of a whole mouse heart, following injection with the mRNA therapy. The areas glowing green mark cells that successfully took up the therapy, helping the scientists get a 3D view of where it can reach within the heart. Credit: Cambridge University

Scientists have developed a treatment that promotes the regeneration of damaged heart muscle following a heart attack, which has shown promising results in mice.

Since adult heart cells can’t repair themselves once damaged, this represents an important step towards a potential curative treatment for heart disease.

The treatment ‘reawakens’ heart muscle cells so they start to divide and help repair damaged muscle.

In a study in mice, this produced a stronger heartbeat and increased the amount of blood pumped through the heart with each heartbeat by around 10%, compared with mice that received a mock treatment, following a heart attack.

While this is not a full cure, even small improvements to heart function have been linked to lower mortality in patients and a better ability to carry out daily activities.

The treatment uses mRNA therapy to temporarily activate two proteins inside heart cells, called Myc and Cyclin T1, promoting repair of heart tissue.

This has the potential in future to be used to treat patients with heart failure. Around 200,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with heart failure each year and while current treatments can reduce symptoms and slow the progression of heart disease, they can’t regenerate heart muscle that has already been lost.

“These are really exciting results. There’s no cure for heart failure, and our treatment could potentially have a meaningful impact on the quality of life of millions of people around the world.”

Dr Catherine Wilson, Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Pharmacology and Gurdon Institute, co-senior author of the study.

Wilson added: “We’re not just treating the symptoms of heart failure – this approach could help the heart to repair itself.”

The team is now working to refine the treatment and has received funding from the British Heart Foundation to continue the work. Further trials in larger animal models, and then in humans, are needed to fully establish its safety and effectiveness.

The results are published today in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research.

Following a heart attack, the mRNA therapy was injected into the hearts of the mice and its effectiveness assessed by looking at the hearts with an echocardiogram – similar to looking at a baby inside the womb.

Since the treatment is short-lived and localised, it is not expected to cause any permanent modification to the heart cells – designed to reduce the risk of overgrowth, and no adverse effects were seen in the mice.

Reassessing the mice after 28 days and after 12 weeks showed that the improvement in heart function is long-lasting.

After a heart attack, an adult human heart can lose up to one billion heart muscle cells. Unlike many other organs in the body, the adult heart can’t regenerate itself, so lost cells are never replaced. Their loss reduces the strength of the heart and can lead to scar formation, heart failure and ultimately death. 

As the world’s population grows and the prevalence of heart failure increases, the cost of patient care is anticipated to increase dramatically. The scientists believe that reawakening heart muscle cells in this way is a promising approach to treating heart failure patients.

Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: “The heart is easily repaired when we are babies in the womb, but our heart muscle cells lose the ability to regenerate and fix the heart shortly after we are born. That makes it exciting when studies like this are able to reignite regeneration in heart muscle cells.

“Getting the human heart to repair itself is the holy grail for cardiologists.”

He added: “The gene therapy used by the researchers shows clear potential for heart patients. While the research is in mice, and still at an early stage, it is an important step forward towards therapies which could help repair the damage to the heart following a heart attack.”

This research was a collaboration between the University of Cambridge, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and AstraZeneca.

Reference: Boikova, A. et al: ‘A transient modified mRNA encoding Myc and Cyclin T1 improves cardiac function after myocardial injury.’ Nature Cardiovascular Research, Nov 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s44161-026-00910-7.

 The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

By Jacqueline Garget

Source: University of Cambridge