A packaged nanoparticle that delivered a relaxin-encoding gene therapy with microRNA reduced liver fibrosis, researchers in the laboratory of Leaf Huang at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Eshelman School of Pharmacy described in the Jan. 21, 2021, issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

The BCL6 degrader BI-3802 works by inducing polymerization of its target protein, which in turn triggers the addition of ubiquitin tags on the polymerized structure and degradation by the proteasome, scientists reported in the Nov. 18, 2020, issue of Nature.

Scientists working at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill reported in the Oct. 21, 2020, issue of Nature on the successful development of a one-time specific sequence-directed gene therapy approach using the combination of AAV with CRISPR technology that successfully prevented the presentation of Angelman syndrome throughout the lifetime of a mouse model.

Researchers working at the Jackson Laboratory Cancer Center reported in the September 21, 2020, issue of Nature Immunology that breast cancer cells induced neutrophils to accumulate lipids, which were transported to metastatic tumor cells through a macropinocytosis pathway, thus fueling the metastatic potential of tumor cells with lipids.

New research is set to expand the therapeutic time window for stroke treatment, while also contributing to the basic research understanding that stroke pathogenesis involves much more than acute disruption of blood flow.

Remember how Ras is a frequently mutated oncogene in solid tumors? Well, it turns out Ras plays a role in those memories, too. In the Jan. 13, 2020, online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Juniper, Fla., reported on the discovery that Ras signals through Raf and then Rho kinase to control whether memory is short- or long-term.

Remember how Ras is a frequently mutated oncogene in solid tumors? Well, it turns out Ras plays a role in those memories, too. In the Jan. 13, 2020, online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Juniper, Fla., reported on the discovery that Ras signals through Raf and then Rho kinase to control whether memory is short or long-term.

Children are more susceptible to developing allergic asthma than adults. An estimated 6 million children have allergic asthma, making asthma one of the most common long-term diseases of childhood. Asthma is potentially life-threatening, yet there is no cure, rather only management of symptoms. Progress in understanding the disease was reported in the Dec 17, 2019, issue of Immunity.