National projects
Range:
Mechanisms of response to interleukin 12/23 blockers in ulcerative colitis - toward personalized medicine
(slovene) Kljub pomembnemu napredku zdravljenja ulceroznega kolitisa je 30 % pacientov neodzivnih na razpoložljiva zdravila. Ti pacienti trpijo za hudimi simptomi črevesne disfunkcije. Številni potrebujejo operativno odstranitev celotnega debelega črevesa. Ustekinumab, IL 12/23 zaviralec z odličnim varnostnim profilom, je najnovejše zdravilo za zdravlj...
Next-generation adjuvants for mucosal vaccines
Currently, our world is facing an acute shortage of mucosal vaccine adjuvants. The recent progress in our understanding of innate immunity has opened up new avenues for mucosal vaccine development. The innate immune system is comprised of APCs, in particular dendritic cells (DCs), which contain a series of innate immune receptors. Ligands of these receptors engage D...
Role of APOBEC proteins in the oncogenesis of HPV viruses
Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are one of the most prevalent sensually transmitted pathogens, responsible for more than 5 % of all cancers in humans, including cervical cancer and HPV-associated head-and-neck cancer. APOBEC3 (A3) proteins are cytidine deaminases that are capable of DNA and RNA editing. DNA-editing activity represent a key part of the innate immune response to viral infections. Howev...
The Role and Potential Application of Immunomodulatory Mesenchymal Stem Cells in COVID- 19 Disease
The declared pandemic caused by new SARS-CoV-2 virus in 2020, did not catch the research organizations and pharmaceutical companies completely unprepared. Many scientific groups have already carried out research that was indirectly addressing the challenges facing the international health systems of today. In Slovenia, high level of scientific and professional healt...
Autologous immunohybridomas and advanced treatment of stage II and III triple-negative breast cancer
Breast cancer (BC) is a significant and common disease with a negative effect prevalently on women health, and the second most deadly type of cancer in females. BC is a highly heterogeneous disease due to its diverse morphological features, variable clinical outcomes and responses to currently available therapeutic options. Due to its high degree of heterogene...
Development of innate immune receptor-targeting chimeras as custom-tailored vaccine adjuvants
Currently, our world is facing an acute shortage of novel vaccine adjuvants. Adjuvants enhance the immunogenicity of vaccines, therefore they constitute essential components of vaccines. They are needed not only to increase the magnitude of the response but also to guide the type of response to produce the most effective type of immunity against distinct pathogens/t...
Elucidating the role of immunoproteasome in platelet-driven immune response
The development of cancer metastasis is a disease hallmark, which predicts a poor outcome. Identifying novel therapeutic approaches that impair the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment and enhance the immune response is of pivotal need. Herein, we propose a novel pharmacological target in shaping these processes, namely the immunoproteasome. Immunoproteasome is...
Development of NOD2 agonists and dual NOD2/TLR7 agonistic conjugates as novel vaccine adjuvants
Currently, our world is facing an acute shortage of novel vaccine adjuvants. Adjuvants enhance the immunogenicity of vaccines, therefore they constitute essential components of vaccines. They are needed not only to increase the magnitude of the response but also to guide the type of response to produce the most effective type of immunity against distinct pathogens/t...