Volume 21 Issue 1, January 2015

The growth factor thrombopoietin (TPO) drives platelet biogenesis by inducing megakaryocyte production. A new study in mice identifies a feedback mechanism by which clearance of aged, desialylated platelets stimulates TPO synthesis by hepatocytes.

CD4⁺ helper T cells are immune cells that can specifically target cancer cells, but the antigens they recognize on tumor cells are mostly unknown. A new study shows that CD4⁺ T cells recognize peptides encoded by mutated genes in human melanoma, opening the way for new approaches to cancer immunotherapy.

Endogenous expression of tailored nanoparticles in cells followed by application of low-frequency radio waves or a magnetic field can be used to noninvasively modulate gene expression. This approach successfully induces insulin transgene expression in diabetic mice.

Notch signaling regulates developmental processes. A new study in mice shows that Notch signaling regulates the maintenance and survival of memory CD4⁺ T lymphocytes through a mechanism involving glucose uptake, and it suggests that Notch signaling can be modulated to treat autoimmune conditions.

New mouse models help unravel the mechanisms through which LGI1 missense mutations cause epilepsy.

A rationally designed peptide agonist that targets three key hormone receptors reduces obesity and its complications in a manner superior to other agonists.

A new study shows that reduced fat metabolism in renal tubule cells contributes to kidney fibrosis.

Binding of aged, desialylated platelets to the Ashwell-Morell receptor induces hepatic expression of the cytokine thrombopoietin via JAK2-STAT3 signaling, providing a feedback mechanism to control platelet production.

The authors report a mechanistic basis for intestinal polyp formation in patients with hereditary mixed polyposis syndrome that involves the aberrant epithelial expression of morphogens and leads to the formation of ectopic intestinal crypts by progenitor cells outside the stem cell niche, a mechanism that seems to also be involved in human ectopic serrated polyps.

The authors identify mutations in β subunits of G proteins that promote transformation and therapy resistance.

Loss of muscle satellite cells during aging has been thought to contribute to sarcopenia, but experimentally induced depletion of these cells in adult mice does not result in this condition.

Ton Schumacher and colleagues show that melanoma patients have CD4+ T cells reactive to mutated tumor antigens.

Georgiou and colleagues describe a single-cell, emulsion-based approach for the high-throughput determination of the paired antibody variable heavy and light chain (VH-VL) repertoire encoded by the more than 2 × 10⁶ B cells in human peripheral blood samples.

Development and validation of a genetically encoded system in which gene expression is regulated remotely and noninvasively by either low-frequency radio waves or a static magnetic field.