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SMADs are essential transcriptional effectors of transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ)/TGFβ-related signaling that underlies embryonic development and adult homeostasis. A recent study by Fang et al. in Cell Research adds to this biological complexity by demonstrating an atypical cytoplasmic role for SMAD5 in modulating the bioenergetic homeostasis (i.e., glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration) of cells in response to fluctuations in intracellular pH that is independent of receptor signaling.
Infections with Zika virus are strongly associated with complications such as congenital microcephaly and can trigger Guillain-Barré syndrome in humans, highlighting the urgent need for a safe, efficacious vaccine as a preventative countermeasure. In a recent paper published in Cell, Richner et al. generated a lipid nanoparticle encapsulated modified mRNA vaccine encoding the prM and E genes from Zika virus, which showed protection and sterilizing immunity in immunocompetent mice.
There has been a long-standing controversy of whether megakaryocytes release platelets in the marrow or travel to the lungs and release platelets there. Using two-photon electron microscopy and orthotopic lung transplantation, Lefrançais et al. now document that platelet release occurs physiologically in the lungs of mice from extrapulmonary megakaryocytes and that this release accounts for ∼50% of total platelet production.
Activation of the receptor interacting serine/threonine kinase (RIPK) 3 mediates an inflammatory type of cell death called necroptosis; in addition, RIPK3 has necroptosis-independent roles in inflammation, although these are not well defined. In a recent study published in Cell, Daniels and colleagues demonstrate that RIPK3 controls West Nile virus infection by promoting neuroinflammation in the central nervous system without affecting neuronal death.
