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Scanning electron micrograph of glomeruli in the human kidney. BMP agonists protect against renal fibrosis. In this issue, Dressler and colleagues (page 387) identify the first endogenous BMP enhancer and explore its role in kidney disease. SPL/Photo Researchers, Inc.
The accumulation of fibroblasts in epithelial organs such as the kidney can produce dangerous scars. Such tissue fibrosis begins when epithelial cells morph into fibroblasts by epithelial-mesenchymal transition. A key regulator of this process in the kidney now emerges (pages 387–393).
The force exerted by blood as it flows through the vessels influences the development of atherosclerosis. An understanding of how disturbed flow leads to disease is now emerging.
THC acts as a pain reliever in part by engaging a receptor in peripheral tissues, CB2. But exactly where CB2 is and how it operates has been unclear. A new study shows that cannabinoids, acting through CB2 on skin cells, stimulate the local release of endogenous opioids.
Blocking β-adrenergic receptors is a standard treatment for heart failure, but it limits the normal ability to modulate cardiac function. Targeting therapy further downstream by blocking activation of calcium-calmodulin–dependent protein kinase could provide an alternative (pages 409–407).
Immunotherapy for allergies can be an imperfect and unpredictable exercise; immunization with allergens can even lead to an acute allergic response. A new approach, involving fusing the allergen to a protein that modulates the immune response, could provide a more effective and safer alternative (pages 446–449).
Mutations in NOD2, encoding an intracellular bacteria-sensing protein, have been associated recently with Crohn disease. Two studies in mice investigate how these mutations may affect innate immunity to microbes in the intestine and progression of disease.
Vaccines are our best protection against infectious disease and offer hope as immunotherapeutic approaches for the treatment of allergy, autoimmunity, cancer and other diseases.