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BioWorld Science, Neurology/psychiatric
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Light micrograph of skeletal muscle.
Neurology/Psychiatric

Inmune Bio uses DN-TNF biologic to target soluble TNF to increase muscle regeneration in DMD model

Jan. 26, 2023
Inmune Bio Inc., together with a collaborator at University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, has shown targeting soluble TNF (sTNF) using a dominant-negative TNF (DN-TNF) biologic significantly decreased muscle damage in a murine mdx model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and showed a statistically significant increase in muscle regeneration.
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Brain and DNA
Biomarkers

NUP50 gene variation tied to ALS risk, researchers find

Jan. 26, 2023
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most frequent adult-onset motor neuron disease, and it is pathologically related with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Genetic studies have identified C9ORF72 as a major genetic cause of ALS/FTD. Further genetic analyses and validation studies have identified some other genes associated with ALS risk, highlighting among them the NUP50 gene, which encodes nuclear pore complex protein Nup50.
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Brain with clock hands, day and night background
Neurology/Psychiatric

12-Hour as well as circadian brain rhythms disrupted in people with schizophrenia

Jan. 26, 2023
By Helen Albert
Research shows that individuals with schizophrenia have abnormal gene expression patterns in their brains compared with people without the condition. In a study published in PLOS Biology on Jan. 24, 2023, the authors reported that many genes in brain tissue from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region involved in cognition, have expression patterns that follow a 12-hour cycle. The investigators found that these patterns were largely lost in people with schizophrenia.
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Hematologic

Blood cells can tell tales about risk of neurological and psychiatric disorders

Jan. 25, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
A genome-wide association study (GWAS) from The University of Queensland has linked blood cell traits (BCTs) and neurological and psychiatric disorders (NPDs), providing a tool to improve patient treatments or repurposing different drugs. The researchers also found a cause-effect relationship between Parkinson's and platelet distribution width. In their study, published Jan. 25, 2023, in Cell Genomics, the scientists observed the genetic overlap between common NPDs and 29 BCTs, including functional genes, regulatory elements and new genetic correlations linked to hematological data and for these diseases.
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Muscle anatomy illustration of man running
Endocrine/Metabolic

New method enables much more detailed look at exerkines, secreted proteins

Jan. 24, 2023
By Anette Breindl
Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have been able to identify proteins that were released from muscles during exercise in relatively small quantities. Using their method, the team was able to demonstrate that the neurotrophic factor prosaposin was produced during exercise. Prosaposin is “a well-known CNS neurotrophic factor, but has never been seen to come out of muscle or fat,” Bruce Spiegelman told BioWorld. Spiegelman is a researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Stanley J. Korsmeyer Professor of Cell Biology and Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
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Pediatric brain illustration
Genetic/Congenital

Epigenomic editing reactivates neurons in Rett syndrome

Jan. 23, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
A new epigenetic editing technique has restored the functionality of neurons in Rett syndrome (RTT), a rare neurodevelopmental disease associated with a mutation of the MECP2 gene on the X chromosome. The origin of this disorder is a heterozygous mutation of the MECP2 (methyl CpG-binding protein 2) gene. Homozygosity is lethal and as it is associated with the X chromosome; Rett mostly affects girls, inhibiting the development of their motor skills and communication.
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