New research has shed light on a molecular mechanism that fuels inflammation in acute lung injury (ALI), a severe and often fatal condition. Macrophage necroptosis, a form of cell death, is a necessary process contributing to intrapulmonary inflammation during ALI. However, the molecular mechanism that initiates macrophage necroptosis has remained unclear until now.
Scientists at the University of Virginia have discovered an anti-aging mechanism mediated by an enzyme that metabolizes alcohol. Alcohol dehydrogenase, which in Caenorhabditis elegans and yeast replaces the rejuvenating effect of autophagy, would reduce age-associated glycerol levels, also promoting longevity in mice and humans.
Chemoproteomics studies have uncovered multiple potential kinase drug targets in the Plasmodium protozoan that causes malaria, and subsequent screening of approved kinase inhibitor drugs has now thrown up several hits with lethal activity at different stages of the complex life cycle of the parasite. Researchers at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, working with scientists at Glaxosmithkline plc, describe the activity in Plasmodium of one of these kinase inhibitors, the cancer drug sapanisertib, in a paper appearing in Science Translational Medicine, Oct. 19, 2022.
Using a two-drug combination, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) have been able to achieve brain-specific inhibition of several kinases.
The U.S. NIH’s National Institute on Aging’s Intervention Testing Program has been searching for ways to extend lifespan for more than two decades by now. And in its animal studies, it has been successful multiple times. There are half a dozen drugs, and a few lifestyle interventions, that reliably extend lifespan in one or both sexes by up to 30%. Read more in part four and five of BioWorld’s multipart series on extending the human lifespan.
Scientists at the University of Melbourne and collaborators performed an in-depth metabolic characterization of precursors of exhausted (Tpex) cells in chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection. Their results showed that Tpex metabolic attributes strongly contrast with those of exhausted effector (Tex) cells in the same environment.
Investigators at KU Leuven have discovered that although mTOR signaling was important in primary breast tumors and lung metastases alike, the signals that activated mTOR were different between the two, and mTOR signaling could be inhibited through different mechanisms.
Ketamine's antidepressant actions depend on the drug's ability to affect mRNA translation, researchers reported in the December 17, 2020, issue of Nature.
Lowering levels of tau protein improved multiple symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in two different mouse models of the disease, both of which are driven by hyperactivity of the mTOR PI3 kinase pathway.
Lowering levels of tau protein improved multiple symptoms of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in two different mouse models of the disease, both of which are driven by hyperactivity of the mTOR PI3 kinase pathway.