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Muscle fibrosis after acute injury can be debilitating, but in chronic muscle disease it can be lethal. A new study reveals that shifts in macrophage phenotype in injured or diseased muscle can influence whether connective tissue production by fibro/adipogenic precursors in muscle is beneficial or pathological.
Inflammatory disease research is burgeoning. Large data sets are being generated to characterize the human immune response, while detailed mechanistic studies are defining the role of specific cell types and sensors in inflammatory disease. Future efforts are needed to integrate these approaches and guide precision medicine.
Adipocyte progenitors have the capacity to differentiate into mature brown adipocytes with thermogenic capabilities. Two new studies identify novel markers to help prospectively isolate these and mature adipocytes from human brown fat biopsies.
Two new studies demonstrate that so-called 'liquid biopsies' may reveal important genomic information needed to monitor treatment responses, forecast tumor recurrences, and provide a rationale for novel therapeutic strategies in patients with lung cancer and colon cancer.
A small clinical trial shows that short-term cold acclimation to moderately-cold temperature improves the glucose homeostasis of individuals with type 2 diabetes, without an appreciable activation of their brown adipose tissue.
As it becomes evident that the microbiome exerts an influence on the human immune system, scientists have begun to ponder therapies that might act on intestinal microbes to reduce harmful inflammation. Roxanne Khamsi reports.
Recent studies have provided insight into how the environment, and in particular the diet, influence the development of lymphocytes. Emerging studies indicate a role for this immune development in inflammatory disease.
Tissue-resident memory T cells are increasingly being linked to human tissue-specific immune and inflammatory disease. These roles are discussed in this review.
Cua and colleagues discuss the cellular and molecular rationale for targeting IL-12 and IL-23 for therapeutic purposes in inflammatory diseases; they also review existing clinical data, discuss potential side effects, and propose future directions for targeting these cytokines in additional disorders.
Recent advances in genetics have deepened our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms behind autoimmune and immune-mediated diseases. This has revealed both shared pathways and a considerable degree of heterogeneity between diseases.
The introduction of α-synuclein into mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, either by intracerebral injection or transgenic overexpression, is found to inhibit the formation of hippocampal amyloid-β plaques.
Whole-genome and targeted sequencing of multiple sections of each of 50 tumors reveals varying degrees of subclonal diversification and genomic heterogeneity.