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CG-rich DNA “reader” proteins that bind non-methylated CpG sequences have emerged as critical factors to the process of cell differentiation and development. In a recent paper in Nature, Ko et al. show that the CXXC domain protein, IDAX, plays a crucial role as a CG-rich DNA-binding factor in the regulation of Ten-Eleven-Translocation 2 (TET2) protein function.
Recently discovered recurrent somatic mutations in the key metabolic enzymes IDH1 and IDH2 produce the aberrant oncometabolite 2-HG and contribute to malignant transformation of hematopoietic and glial cells. Two recent reports in Science describe the first IDH1 and IDH2 mutant-specific small-molecule inhibitors, which induce cell differentiation of myeloid leukemias and malignant gliomas.
Although adult cardiac myocytes (CMs) have very little proliferative potential, fetal CMs divide robustly. The mechanisms underlying the post-mitotic state of CMs are poorly understood; however, recently Mahmoud et al. identified a homeodomain transcription factor, Meis1, which controls postnatal CM cell cycle.
A recent study published in Nature by Keestra and colleagues addresses how the immune system detects the pathogenic potential of microbes and provides evidence that one strategy involves NOD1, which monitors the activation state of the RhoGTPases that are targeted by virulence effectors produced by pathogenic microbes. Interestingly, their findings reveal striking similarities with previous observations made in flies and plants, establishing the evolutionary conservation of this detection system in the innate immune arsenal in many taxa.
Oncogene-driven adaptation of metabolism during tumorigenesis includes steps that stimulate the uptake of nutrients, especially glucose and glutamine, to sustain cell growth and proliferation. Macropinocytosis, a clathrin- and caveolin-independent endocytotic process that had previously been linked to the action of oncogenic Ras and Src, is now shown to contribute to amino acid uptake via enhanced delivery of extracellular proteins to lysosomes.
While M1 macrophages are highly pro-inflammatory and microbicidal, M2 macrophages and the related tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) regulate tissue remodeling and angiogenesis and can display immunomodulatory activity. In July issue of Cell Research, Zhang et al. show that ROS production, critical for the activation and functions of M1 macrophages, is necessary for the differentiation of M2 macrophages and TAMs, and that antioxidant therapy blocks TAM differentiation and tumorigenesis in mouse models of cancer.
