By Anette Breindl Science Editor A team of researchers has shown that transgenic mice with increased levels of the tumor suppressor PTEN have a longer life span than their wild-type brethren
Helper T Cells Are Killers in HIV HIV infects CD4 "helper" T cells. But new research out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Ragon Institute showed that early in the course of HIV infection, helper T cells play a greater role in controlling the disease than has been appreciated. Specifically, they are able to directly recognize and kill HIV-infected cells. The authors found that patients with more HIV-specific T cells were able to control HIV infection well into the course of the
By Anette Breindl Science Editor By focusing on protein translation, scientists have gained surprising insights into the control of prostate cancer metastasis, linking it to dysregulation of the protein kinase mTOR
Genes Are Overrated... A multinational team led by scientists from the British Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has systematically tested how frequent loss-of-function mutations are in the human genome – and has come to the conclusion that they are surprisingly common. Based on their sequencing, the scientists estimated that the average human genome contains 100 loss-of-function variants and 20 completely inactivated genes. The authors compared 200 genes that are loss-of-function tolerant
Blind Men and the Elephant Three separate papers last week reported different new insights into isocitrate dehydrogenase 1, or IDH1, an enzyme that is critical in the altered metabolism of cancer cells. Two papers came out of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the third out of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Two papers linked mutations in IDH1 to changes in cell methylation in gliomas, which in turn prevented progenitor-like cells from fully differentiating. The third paper showed that
By Anette Breindl Science Editor Researchers identified a drug which, in animals, rapidly decreases both plaque area and soluble amyloid beta levels in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease
By Anette Breindl Science Editor Resveratrol, a compound found in minuscule doses in foods including red wine and chocolate, is as close to ambrosia – the food of the ancient Greek Gods that gave them eternal youth – as anyone has come
How the Leg Causes Trouble for the Brain Researchers from the Japanese Osaka University have uncovered an unexpected mechanism by which autoimmune T cells cross the blood-brain barrier in mice with the animal equivalent of multiple sclerosis. The authors found the cells crossed over at one particular level of the spinal cord. The reason they were able to do so was that activation of a leg muscle, the soleus muscle, caused chemokines to be released. Those released proinflammatory chemokines
Doc, I Need Levitra for My Ears Elders shouting at today's young to do as they say, not as they did during the heyday of rock, may have a point: Noise-induced hearing loss is on the rise. A phenomenon," wrote scientists at the German University of Tuebingen, "possibly connected to the negligent use of portable audio players." But those same researchers offered a possible strategy to protect the ears. By treating mice with Levitra (vardenafil, GlaxoSmithKline plc) they were able to prevent noise
Longevity Data: Retracted, Reanalyzed, Republished Scientists from Boston University have reanalyzed and republished data on genetic signatures of exceptional longevity that were first published in 2010, and then retracted over methodological concerns. In the original work, the authors identified a gene signature of about 150 SNPs that predicted a long life span and health span for those individuals who possessed it. Notably, disease risk variants such as the Alzheimer's ApoE4 variant were as
UnDOCumented Parasites Can't Cross Cellular Borders Apicomplexan parasites – a group that includes both the malaria and the toxoplasmosis parasite – use organelles called micronemes to get themselves into and out of the host cells where they replicate. Scientists from Boston College discovered that mutations in one protein of the complex, DOC2.1, are impaired at entering and exiting cells. In their work, the authors began by isolating a form of toxoplasmosis that is impaired at entering cells
By Anette Breindl Science Editor Sepsis is widely believed to be due to an out-of-control inflammatory response, and efforts to develop drugs to treat that condition have focused on reining in the immune system
Their work appeared in the March 7, 2012, issue of Neuron. – By Anette Breindl, Science Editor