Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The role of oxidative stress in the aging process has been highly debated for decades and remains equivocal. A new study published in Cell Research reports a novel role for the aging-associated SIRT6 deacetylase in the control of oxidative homeostasis in human mesenchymal stem cells.
Macrophages are important innate immune cells with functions in tissue repair and remodeling, induction and resolution of inflammation, as well as elimination of invading pathogens. In a recent study, Schmidt and colleagues describe the open epigenetic landscape of the human inflammatory macrophages, and the transcriptional regulators responsible for their rapid response to environmental signals.
Reprogramming to pluripotency has thus far required complex procedures involving nuclear transfer, cell fusion or genetic manipulation. Two recent papers from Hongkui Deng's group now show various cell types can be reprogrammed simply by chemicals through an extraembryonic endoderm-like phase instead of the primitive streak-like mesendoderm induced by Yamanaka factors.
A recent paper in Nature shows that tumor exosomes expressing unique integrins can determine organotropic metastasis by preparing pre-metastatic niche through their integrins-mediated fusion with and fertilization of organ-specific resident cells.