Volume 24 Issue 6, June 2018

After half a century, scientists still debate the best way to fatten up lab animals

Chronotherapy looks beyond to treating more than just cancer

A metastatic hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, usually resistant to immunotherapy, is successfully treated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes enriched for neoantigen reactivity, underscoring the broad potential of this immunotherapeutic approach.

Complete leukemic responses to chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells are invariably accompanied by severe toxicity. Recently developed animal models allow mechanistic dissection and prevention of toxicity without loss of therapeutic benefit.

Genetic risk scores in schizophrenia are influenced by pregnancy complications that compromise the placenta, enhancing association of genes involved in metabolism and cellular stress with schizophrenia risk.

A large retrospective study involving 62,565 Danish men shows that those who have been overweight in childhood have a lower risk of having type 2 diabetes in adulthood if they had remission of overweight before 13 years of age.

The precise link between macrophages and cardiovascular disease is emerging from mouse studies and clinical trials, providing new therapeutic avenues.

A single monoclonal antibody is therapeutic and has prophylactic activity against Zika virus in monkeys.

Adoptive T cell therapy induced complete and durable remission in a patient with refractory metastatic breast cancer, providing proof of principle for this approach in breast cancer therapy.

Blocking IL-1 and iNOS prevents CAR T cell–induced cytokine release syndrome.

IL-1 blockade prevents cytokine-release syndrome and neurotoxicity by CAR T cells.

An exploratory randomized controlled clinical trial of renal cell carcinoma identifies molecular patterns distinguishing responders to immune checkpoint blockade alone or combined with angiogenesis inhibitor versus angiogenesis inhibitor alone.

Interactions between the MLL3 histone methyltransferase and the BAP1–UTX complex set the level of histone H3K27 methylation and suggest a new therapy for MLL3-mutant cancer.

Accumulation of zinc in muscle cells resulting from transcriptional upregulation of metal transporter ZIP14 causes muscle atrophy and promotes cachexia in metastatic cancer.

Loss of sympathetic nerve innervention of the bone marrow contributes to the aging of hematopoietic stem cells, which can be rejuvenated using an adrenergic receptor agonist.

Early-life complications modulate the association of genomic risk and schizophrenia.

In a mouse model of intellectual disability, the chromatin remodeling protein ATR-X is shown to bind to G-quadruplex DNA structures and modulate target gene expression, which can be pharmacologically targeted to restore neuronal and cognitive phenotypes in these animals.

Inhibition of immune cell–derived acetylcholine synthesis or of its signaling via CHRNA2 in beige adipocytes reduces thermogenesis and exacerbates diet-induced obesity, suggesting a new mode of immuno–fat communication in energy metabolism.

Recombinant SLIT3 represents a new mechanistic approach to treating osteoporosis by increasing skeletal CD31^hiEMCN^hi vascular endothelium.

Excess anti-Müllerian hormone during pregnancy results in polycystic ovary syndrome-like phenotypes in female offspring, possibly explaining its pathogenesis as well as suggesting a possible therapy.

Distinct monocyte subsets associate with different outcomes of SIV vaccines.

An alternative HIV vaccine design facilitates generation of HIV-1-antibodies, with promising neutralization breadth in rodents and nonhuman primates.

An integrated resource of (epi)genomic features in annotated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) primary samples uncovers subgroup-specific regulatory alterations associated with clinical behavior.