Nature view
Research highlights from the NPG family of journals.
Animal memories: where did I put those nuts?
Humans
can mentally travel backwards in
time to recollect specific past events (episodic
memory) and forwards to anticipate future needs (future planning). Until recently,
there was little evidence that animals display either ability. But experiments
on memory in food-storing birds question this assumption, showing that western
scrub-jays form integrated and flexible memories of what they hid, where and when.
Moreover, these birds can adjust their storing behaviour in anticipation of future
needs. In an article in this month's Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Nicola
Clayton et al. suggest that some animals have elements of both episodic-like
memory and future planning.
opinion
Can animals recall the past and plan for the future?
N. S. CLAYTON, T. J. BUSSEY AND A. DICKINSON
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
4, 685; August 2003
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Enter the matrix
Studies
of cell migration are moving into the next dimension — causing us to reassess
the mechanisms that mediate cell motility. In the August issue of Nature Cell
Biology, Eric Sahai and Christopher Marshall study the movement of tumour
cells in three-dimensional matrices and note that there is remarkable plasticity
in the mechanisms used to drive cell migration. Donna Webb and Alan Horwitz discuss
in an accompanying News and Views article what we learn from this study about
the requirements for different Rho-family GTPases in these migration patterns.
article
Differing modes of tumour cell
invasion have distinct requirements for Rho/ROCK signalling and extracellular
proteolysis
E. SAHAI AND C. J. MARSHALL
Nature
Cell Biology 5, 711; August 2003
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news and views
News dimensions
in cell migration
D. J. WEBB AND A. F. HORWITZ.
Nature Cell Biology 5, 690; August 2003
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Cancer
vaccines: between the idea and the reality
Developing
cancer vaccines presents several unique hurdles. They must overcome any immune
suppression exerted by the tumour, previous therapy or the effects of advanced
age of the patient. If used for cancer prevention, vaccines must elicit effective
long-term memory without the potential of causing autoimmunity. In a review in
this month's Nature Reviews Immunology, Olivera Finn addresses the common
and the unique challenges to cancer vaccines and the progress made in meeting
them. As cancer has been resistant to standard therapy, efforts to achieve immune
control of this disease are well justified. This article is available free online
throughout August.
review
Cancer
vaccines: between the idea and the reality
O. J.
FINN
Nature Reviews Immunology 3, 630; August 2003
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Decisions from opposing views
Imagine
sitting next to a window in a restaurant atop a high building. You see people
moving in the plaza below, and you instinctively direct your gaze in the direction
that most people are moving. This effortless action — identifying the net
direction of a more-or-less randomly moving group of objects — involves cortical
neurons, which activate in response to visual objects moving in a particular direction,
and inform the brain that an object is in motion. But how this neuronal representation
is used to decide which direction a stimulus is moving has remained elusive. In
the August issue of Nature Neuroscience, Jochen Ditterich et al.
suggest that the brain combines sensory information from neurons tuned to opposite
directions. Victor de Lafuente and Ranulfo Romo review in a News and Views article.
article
Microstimulation of visual cortex
affects the speed of perceptual decisions
J. DITTERICH,
M. E. MAZUREK AND M. N. SHADLEN
Nature Neuroscience 6, 891;
August 2003
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news and views
Decisions arising
from opposing views
V. DE LAFUENTE AND R. ROMO
Nature Neuroscience 6, 787; August 2003
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Gene polymorphisms and drug metabolism
Analysis
of the genes associated with drug modification and metabolism is a centerpiece
of pharmacogenomic research. The UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) enzyme superfamily
is a target of considerable interest in this regard - these proteins catalyze
key metabolic reactions that protect the body against a variety of environmental
and dietary toxins and carcinogens, and are also essential to the processing of
a number of synthetic drugs and endogenous compounds. In the latest issue of The
Pharmacogenomics Journal, Chantal Guillemette presents an extensive overview
of the human UGTs, polymorphisms that have been identified in these genes, and
the impact that these variations might have on cancer risk and responsiveness
to various pharmacological treatments.
review
Pharmacogenomics of human UDP glucuronosyltransferase enzymes
C GUILLEMETTE
The Pharmacogenomics Journal 3, 136-158; (2003)
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Mitochondrial DNA mutations in CLL cells
Mutations
in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have long been observed in human cancer, however
their significance in oncogenesis and chemosensitivity remains unclear. Huang
et al’s study in the August issue of Leukemia examines the relationship between
mtDNA mutations, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and clinical outcomes
in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). The mtDNA of 20 CLL patients was analysed,
those with prior chemotherapy showed a higher frequency of mutations in primary
CLL cells, which in turn appeared to be associated with increased ROS generation.
Higher levels of ROS may contribute on the one hand to genetic instability and
disease progression, but on the other, may also help to establish new therapeutics
that will utilise enhanced levels of ROS to specifically target cancer cells.
article
Mitochondrial DNA mutations in
primary leukemia cells after chemotherapy: clinical significance and therapeutic
implications
J. S. CAREW, Y. ZHOU, M. ALBITAR, J.
D. CAREW, M. J. KEATING & PENG HUANG
Leukemia 17, 1437;
(2003)
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