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Datasets released to public databases in advance of (or with) research publications should be given digital object identifiers to allow databases and journals to give quantitative citation credit to the data producers and curators.
Two genome-wide association studies together report three new susceptibility loci for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. CLU, PICALM and CR1 may be involved in amyloid-β clearance from the brain.
Three new studies report genetic variants near IL28B, which encodes interferon-λ3 (interleukin 28B), are associated with response to treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection with interferon-alfa/ribavirin combination therapy. This renews interest in how interferons suppress viremia and could lead to improved clinical decisions for chronic HCV infection treatment based on individual genotype.
Adult mammalian tissues are maintained by multipotent stem cells, many of which are highly responsive to soluble Wnt proteins. A new study reports the requirement of two Tcf family members, Tcf3 and Tcf4, in the development and maintenance of epithelial stem cells in skin through Wnt-dependent and -independent processes.
Meredith Yeager and colleagues with the Cancer Genetics Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) initiative report a new association to prostate cancer at chromosome 8q24. This defines a new locus, region 4, which shows association to prostate cancer susceptibility independent of previously reported associations at 8q24.
Douglas Easton and colleagues report a comprehensive analysis of SNP associations to prostate cancer across the 8q24 region. They report 8 SNPs in 5 blocks independently associated to prostate cancer risk.
Evan Eichler and colleagues have developed an algorithm called mrFAST to map short, next-generation sequence reads across the genome that allows for the accurate prediction of copy-number variation.
Elaine Fuchs and colleagues present mice conditionally lacking Tcf3 and Tcf4 in the skin and show that they play a role in long-term maintenance and wound repair of both epidermis and hair follicles.
Giacomo Cavalli and colleagues report that the polycomb gene polyhomeotic acts as a tumor suppressor in the Drosophila eye by repressing the Notch signaling pathway.
Leonard van den Berg, Roel Ophoff and colleagues present a genome-wide association study of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The work uncovers associated SNPs at 9p21.2 and an associated locus at 19p13.3 mapping to the UNC13A gene.
Julie Williams and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for Alzheimer's disease. They identify variants at the CLU and PICALM loci associated with susceptibility to late-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Philippe Amouyel and colleagues report a genome-wide association study for Alzheimer's disease. They identify variants within CLU and CR1 associated with susceptibility to late-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Jacob George and colleagues report a genome-wide association study to hepatitis C treatment response. They report an association of common variants within the IL28B region to sustained virologic response following pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin combined therapy in individuals with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C.
Masashi Mizokami and colleagues report a genome-wide association study to hepatitis C treatment response in two Japanese cohorts. They report common variants at IL28B associated with sustained as well as null virologic response following pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin combined therapy.
Rob Sladek and colleagues identify a common variant near the insulin receptor substrate 1 gene (IRS1) associated with type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia and impaired insulin signaling. This is the first confirmed diabetes risk locus associated with insulin resistance.
Rosalind Eeles and colleagues present a genome-wide association study for prostate cancer. They report seven loci newly associated with prostate cancer susceptibility.
Julius Gudmundsson and colleagues report a prostate cancer genome-wide association follow-on study. They report variants at 3q21.3, 8q24.21 and 19q13.2 newly associated to prostate cancer susceptibility and the fine-mapping of the association signal at 11q13.
Yardena Samuels and colleagues report a mutational analysis of the protein tyrosine kinase family in cutaneous metastatic melanoma. They find ERBB4 mutations in 19% of tumors and show that these mutations enhance ERBB4 kinase activity and transformation ability, identifying ERBB4 as a potential drug target in melanomas carrying these mutations.
K. Lenhard Rudolph and colleagues report that conditional p53 deletion in the intestinal epithelium of aging mice impaired the depletion of chromosomal-instable stem cells and shortened the lifespan of telomere-dysfunctional mice without inducing tumor formation.
Eric Brown and colleagues report the mosaic deletion of ATR combined with loss of p53 led to accumulation of highly damaged cells and severe defects in tissue regeneration in adult mice.
David Bilder and colleagues report that the Polycomb repressive complex 1 acts as a tumor suppressor in the Drosophila eye imaginal disc and that this function is mediated by repression of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway.