An Australian study led by University of Melbourne scientists has identified a previously unknown role for the hepatokine, sparc-related modular calcium-binding protein 1 (SMOC1), in suppressing hepatic glucose production. The investigators reported their results in the Sept. 2, 2020, edition of Science Translational Medicine.
With COVID-19, questions about how infections cause lasting immunity, or don’t, and how you know and what it all means for vaccines have become a matter of public focus. But some immunologists have been pondering those questions for years. “The immune system has a very good memory,” Bali Pulendran told BioWorld. “Clearly, some viruses and some pathogens can enter the body and stimulate the immune system, and the immune system can remember that encounter for decades.”
BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: iBET you I can kill those metastases; Elite controller achieves none-in-a-billion status; AP-1 and antidepressant action; ‘Undruggable’ phosphatase can be targeted for dystrophies; Candida auris: mostly, nothing wrong; In T cells, exhaustion starts young; Chewing the fat keeps stem cells quiet; Antiviral protein produces flu mRNAs; Engineered brown fat cells improve blood sugar control; For organs, rejuvenation helps transplantation.
Through the use of sequencing data, researchers in Hong Kong presented a case study providing the strongest evidence yet that individuals can become reinfected with SARS-CoV-2 after clearing a first infection.
HONG KONG Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) research enterprise in Singapore, known as Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), have found a way to not just reverse antibiotic resistance but also increase sensitivity in some bacteria, using hydrogen sulfide.
BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Mechanisms of retinopathy come into focus; New partner in crime for AHR; Multiple sclerosis’ early days; MMA induces EMT; CAR T cells for inhibition; Islet organoids can evade immune attack, Cross-reactive immunity helps antitumor response; How antidepressants inhibit fibrosis; Just add fever.
Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is a protein that senses DNA in the cytosol, where it comes from either an infectious invader or a damaged nucleus and sets off an immune response that ultimately results in the activation of T cells. STING agonists are among the strategies that have been tested in hopes they would increase the response rate to checkpoint blockade. Now, back-to-back papers in the Aug. 21, 2020, issue of Science have detailed the preclinical development of orally available STING agonists.
A Sino-U.S. collaborative study has demonstrated that acupuncture regulates inflammation by activating pro- or anti-inflammatory signaling pathways, while mitigating cytokine storms in mice with systemic inflammation, the study authors reported in the Aug. 12, 2020, edition of Neuron.
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