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People with chronic pain are often dependent on drugs from the class of opioids with sometimes considerable side effects. Accordingly, in recent years the search for safer alternatives has been the focus in drug discovery. As part of an international study led by MedUni Vienna, an opioid-like molecule has now been developed which, as shown in animal models, can effectively alleviate pain but with fewer undesirable side effects.

As an extremely aggressive form of skin cancer, cutaneous melanoma is still associated with a high mortality rate. Enormous progress has recently been made in the fight against deadly metastasis, but existing therapeutic measures are still not effective in many cases. Now a research team led by Wolfgang Weninger and Shweta Tikoo from MedUni Vienna's Department of Dermatology has discovered a new option that targets the metastatic capacity of melanoma cells.

The use of nanotechnology offers numerous new possibilities in the development of medicines and the targeted release of active ingredients. One interesting innovation is the use of iron oxide nanoparticles with a special coating. This allows active ingredients to be delivered safely and directly to the affected cells.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is marketed by some suppliers as a painkiller, e.g. for osteoarthritis of the knee. Animal experiments have shown that the substance, which is extracted from the hemp plant, has an anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effect in arthritis. As pain researchers at MedUni Vienna were now able to show for the first time in humans, CBD is not effective as pain medication, even in high doses.

Approximately half of patients with advanced liver disease have varicose veins in the oesophagus and stomach, and a more than a fifth of them experience bleeding from these varices into the digestive tract. This is a life-threatening complication that contributes significantly to the still high mortality rate in cirrhosis.

An international team from science and industry has revolutionized the modelling and prediction of free energy in crystals. Their work on the new TRHu(ST) method, published in Nature , shows that the stability of crystal forms can be predicted reliably and cost-effectively under real temperature and humidity conditions.

A study led by the Medical University of Vienna shows a sustained survival benefit of the so called antiangiogenic therapy at recurrence of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children and adolescents. The therapy starves the cancer by interfering mainly with the cancer microenvironment.

A large EU-funded study with the participation of experts from Graz has now shown that the removal of the causative blood clot with a catheter intervention in severe strokes can save lives. "Even in patients with severe strokes, treatment using a catheter to open the vessel occlusion is successful. In almost 20 percent of the patients treated, death or the need for nursing care could be prevented by a corresponding procedure," the Hamburg University Hospital (UKE) now reported.

An underlying liver disease can be found in 85% of patients with a new diagnosis of liver cancer. Due to the increasing incidence of fatty liver disease, the number of liver cancer diagnoses could increase by up to 50% by 2040. Affected people with advanced liver disease should be included in early detection programs.

A research team at the Comprehensive Cancer Center of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital has published a study investigating the influence of chronic diseases on the occurrence of surgical or medical complications in oncological bowel surgery and how these affect long-term survival. It was found that although the number and severity of concomitant diseases influences the occurrence of medical or surgical complications, this does not have a negative impact on long-term survival in sicker individuals.

Pleural mesothelioma (PM) is mainly caused by asbestos exposure and characterized by poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options. A recent research study led by Karin Schelch and Michael Grusch from MedUni Vienna identified the oncoprotein YB-1 as an attractive therapeutic target in PM and demonstrates that indirect targeting of YB-1 is a promising approach to enhance sensitivity to chemoand radiotherapy.

A joint research group from the Medical University of Vienna and King's College London has presented a "proteome atlas" of atherosclerotic plaques that reveals important gender differences in the development and prognosis of atherosclerosis. The study identified four key proteins that are more predictive of future cardiovascular mortality than conventional methods.

A prediction model can be used to identify people affected by venous thromboembolism who have only a low risk of recurrence and may not require long-term blood thinning. The validity of this "Vienna Prediction Model" developed at MedUni Vienna has now been confirmed in a large-scale clinical study and the results have been published in the renowned European Heart Journal.

A team of researchers at the Medical University of Vienna has discovered that dormant tumor cells surviving chemotherapy can be targeted through the inhibition of a specific protein called P-glycoprotein (P-gp). This discovery opens up new possibilities for delaying relapse and is particularly relevant for aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), for which there are currently few effective treatments.

Small cell lung cancer accounts for about 15 percent of all diagnosed lung cancers and is still associated with a high mortality rate. SCLC tumours often develop resistance to chemotherapy and thus poor prognosis is due to tumour recurrence which occurs within only five to 14 months after initial diagnosis.

Autoimmune diseases are complex illnesses, the causes of which are diverse and have not yet been fully explained. A research team at MedUni Vienna has now discovered an immunoregulatory protein that could be linked to the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The identified component of the immune system is called "Rinl", which could provide a new target for the development of immunomodulatory therapies.

People who are treated with TNF-α inhibitors for their autoimmune disease such as Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis lose their vaccination protection significantly earlier than average. The mechanism underlying the early decrease in antibody levels has now been eludicated by a scientific team from MedUni Vienna.

T cells are an essential component of the immune system - they fight foreign structures such as bacteria and viruses or cancer-related changes in cells. This defense reaction requires energy. Scientists led by the St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute, MedUni Vienna and the Marmara University Istanbul have now shown for the first time that a defect in the gene for the transcription factor NFATC1 leads to an immune defect with a disruption of metabolism in T lymphocytes.

Patients with localised prostate cancer have a good chance of survival, but mortality rates among those with advanced, metastatic forms of the condition remain high. Until now, the precise mechanism behind the spread of the tumour has not been fully explained. But an international research team headed by MedUni Vienna has succeeded in decoding the underlying cellular signal pathway and has carried out research using a common diabetes medication that could provide a new treatment option.

Scientists at Medical University Vienna/St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen have shown that immunotherapy after stem cell transplantation effectively combats certain nerve tumors in children. Crucially, stem cells from a parent provide children with a new immune system that responds much better to immunotherapies.