Two Important Revelations – By Djikic and Radman

Scientists Djikic and Radman will present their discoveries for the first time together in such a renowned magazine as the Cell.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – Two important revelations by Croatian scientists Miroslav Radman and Ivan Djikic will be published on Friday in one of the most prominent international scientific magazines, Cell, the Jutarnji list daily reported. 

Identification of proteins in a damaged DNA

This is the first time that the works of two Croatian scientists are published in the same magazine and, besides, they cooperate in the same institution, Split’s MedILS.

The international team of professor Djikic revealed a completely new mechanism of ubiquitous signals that regulate the immunological response of the body, while the team of professor Radman identified the chief proteins for repairing damaged DNA in the Deinococcus radiodurans bacteria.

The bacteria can withstand radiation levels up to 5,000 times higher that what would be deadly for people, and can survive in the desert sand or rock surfaces.

Two years ago Radman and his associates explained in their paper for the Nature magazine the mechanism which allows the D. radiodurans bacteria to “survive death”.

- The work in Nature magazine was about the mechanism of repairing a disintegrated genome and in Cell we identified four key enzymes for the repair of DNA. It is our conclusion that Deinococcus radiodurans did not evolve new, unknown enzymes, but rather found a way to use already existing enzymes more efficiently. Our further work is focused on identifying the way in which the Deinococcus radiodurans bacteria protects its proteins from damage caused by radiation. The effective protection of proteins would mean slowing down ageing – Radman told the daily.

Discovery of cause of rare disease, ectodermal dysplasia  

The team of Professor Djikic’s team set a new paradigm in the regulation of immunological responses of the body. They described a completely novel mechanism of transmitting signals that regulate the immunological response of the body and changed their preposition about the role of ubiquitous signals in those processes.

They also described crystal structures that will allow the designing of new chemical elements which could act as future cures for inflammatory processes and various tumours.

In the magazine they explained the cause of a rare disease, ectodermal dysplasia. In patients with this disease, the skin is very thin and there are irregularities in the work of sweat glands.

- It is a hereditary disease that affects about every seventh child to 10,000 born children and it is often combined with immunodeficiency, that is, a lack of an immunological response. So far, specific mutations in the gene called NEMO have been described, but their meaning for the development of the disease was unknown. In our work, we elegantly explained why the mutations cause disruptions in the transmission of signals within cells, thus leading to damage to epidermal skin cells and a lack of an immunological response in the lymphocytes – Djikic explained.