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Matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) are shedding their traditional roles in tissue remodeling and appearing as players in diseases of the nervous system. MMP2 and MMP9 provide the latest example, with converging roles in chronic pain after peripheral nerve injury (pages 331–336).
Interleukin-22, a component of the immune system most studied for its role in autoimmunity, has a more beneficial side. Two studies show how this cytokine fights off microbes in the mucosa of the lung and gut (pages 275–281 and 282–289).
A recent theory about the basis for fragile X syndrome is now validated in a mouse model. The findings point the way to treatment options targeting group 1 metabotropic glutamate receptors.
A well-known cell cycle regulator, p27KIP1, and protein kinase CK2-α´ mediate pathologic growth of cardiomyocytes. The findings have potential implications for the development of new treatment approaches to cardiac hypertrophy (pages 315–324).
Breast milk protects young mice from developing symptoms of asthma. The effect occurs through the induction of regulatory T cells after ingestion of allergen and TGF-β in breast milk (pages 170–175).
Generating live attenuated vaccines through repeated passages in cells and animals has been standard procedure for more than a century. A more targeted approach may lie on the horizon (pages 154–161).
Expressing a stabilized form of β-catenin extends the lifespan of regulatory T cells— one goal of therapies that take advantage of these cells (pages 162–169).
T cells can turn back cancer, but they don't always reach tumor cells in sufficient numbers to do so. A close look at the cells of tumor blood vessels suggests a way to boost T cell migration in individuals with cancer (pages 28–36).
Deep brain stimulation is increasingly used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and other disorders, yet its mechanism of action remains unknown. New findings suggest that at least some of its action involves the release of adenosine, dampening tremors (pages 75–80).
Propriospinal neurons, whose axons never leave the spinal cord, aid in recovery after spinal cord injury—even when all axons from the brain have been damaged (pages 69–74).
Vasopressin plays a vital part in homeostasis by regulating water excretion in the kidney. But it seems that vasopressin also dampens the inflammatory response to uropathogenic Escherichia coli—a finding that adds to a growing list of adverse actions of the 'antidiuretic hormone'.
Excess salt intake over many years can lead to high blood pressure. An essential signaling mechanism behind this effect is now uncovered (pages 64–68).
Two hallmarks of lung fibrosis are vascular leakage and recruitment of fibroblasts into the alveoli. Lysophosphatidic acid is now implicated as a major regulator of both parameters (pages 45–54).
Phagocytes swarm to the lung in individuals with cystic fibrosis but are unable to clear infection. A close examination of neutrophil biology reveals that Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lung disables these phagocytes, which then turn on each other (pages 1423–1430).
Two studies examine why community-acquired strains of Staphylococcus aureus are so good at burrowing into flesh and wreaking havoc on the body (pages 1405–1406 and 1510–1514).
