Curated News: Journal of Experimental Medicine

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Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered that microglia, specialized immune cells in the brain, play a key role in clearing dead material after brain injury. The study, which will be published June 25 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals that microglia gobble up the remnants of injured neurons, which could prevent the damage from spreading to neighboring neurons and causing more extensive neurodegeneration.

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Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York have discovered that a signaling protein elevated in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) plays a much wider role in the disease than previously thought. The study, which will be published May 17 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, raises hopes that current efforts to target this signaling protein could be a successful strategy to treat AML and other blood cancers.

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Researchers in Germany have discovered that colon cancers are often resistant to existing drug treatments because they are composed of two different cell types that can replace each other when one cell type is killed. The study, which will be published May 16 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that combination therapies targeting both cell types at once may be more effective at treating colorectal cancer, the third highest cause of cancer-related death in the United States.

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Researchers in China have discovered that an enzyme called UGT8 drives the progression of basal-like breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that is largely untreatable. But the study, which will be published May 4 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals that the widely used osteoporosis drug zoledronic acid inhibits UGT8 and prevents the spread of basal-like breast cancer in mice, suggesting that this drug could also be used to treat the disease in humans.

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Researchers from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have discovered why many multiple myeloma patients experience severe pain when treated with the anticancer drug bortezomib. The study, which will be published April 27 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that a drug already approved to treat multiple sclerosis could mitigate this effect, allowing myeloma patients to successfully complete their treatment and relieving the pain of myeloma survivors.

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Researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered that inhibiting an enzyme called cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) protects mice and rats from noise- or drug-induced hearing loss. The study, which will be published March 7 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that CDK2 inhibitors prevent the death of inner ear cells, which has the potential to save the hearing of millions of people around the world.

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Researchers in France have discovered that, though a tattoo may be forever, the skin cells that carry the tattoo pigment are not. Instead, the researchers say, the cells can pass on the pigment to new cells when they die. The study, which will be published March 6 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests ways to improve the ability of laser surgery to remove unwanted tattoos.

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Immunotherapy does not work for a majority of cancer patients. Preventing or reversing metabolic exhaustion in cancer-killing T-cells could boost its effectiveness.

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A team of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute have found that gradually depleting an enzyme called BACE1 completely reverses the formation of amyloid plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease, thereby improving the animals’ cognitive function. The study, which will be published February 14 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, raises hopes that drugs targeting this enzyme will be able to successfully treat Alzheimer’s disease in humans.

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Houston Methodist researchers have a new explanation for what causes the lungs’ airways to close during asthma attacks. The researchers who published the study in the Feb. 5 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine note that the discovery holds promise for developing a new class of drugs different from the steroids currently used to treat asthma.

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UVA has discovered an unknown biological process that controls the production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the body. The discovery could help doctors develop new treatments for anemia, which affects millions.

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La Jolla Institute scientists demonstrate that LIGHT, a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) super family, directly controls the hyperproliferation of keratinocytes as well as the expression of periostin, a protein that contributes to the clinical features of atopic dermatitis as well as other inflammatory skin diseases such as scleroderma.

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An international team of researchers led from Karolinska Institutet have, in experiments on mice, pinpointed a mechanism for the conversion of energy-storing white fat into energy-expending brown fat. The study is published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

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A team of researchers in Italy and Austria has determined that a drug approved to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) may be less effective in a particular subset of patients. The study, which will be published January 4 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals that ibrutinib has a diminished capacity to delocalize and kill tumor cells expressing an adhesive protein called CD49d, but combining ibrutinib treatment with drugs that block CD49d activation could prevent the tumor cells from sheltering in lymphoid organs.

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New research published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine highlights the pernicious effect of obesity on the long-term health of blood-making stem cells (hematopoietic stem cells). Published Dec. 27 and conducted largely in genetic models of obese mice, the study shows obesity causes durable and harmful changes to the hematopoietic stem cell compartment – the blood-making factory in our bodies.

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Cancer therapies including radiation and chemotherapy seek to treat the disease by killing tumor cells. Now a team including researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have shown that the dead and dying cancer cells generated by chemotherapy and targeted cancer therapy paradoxically trigger inflammation that promotes aggressive tumor growth. In a study published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the team has illuminated the mechanism by which tumor cell death can drive primary tumor growth and metastasis.

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Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the Institute of Systems Biology have discovered that the remains of tumor cells killed by chemotherapy or other cancer treatments can actually stimulate tumor growth by inducing an inflammatory reaction. The study, which will be published November 30 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, also reveals that a family of molecules called resolvins can suppress this unwanted inflammatory response, suggesting new ways to enhance the effectiveness of existing cancer therapies.

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Researchers have identified a new protective function for a brain protein genetically linked to Alzheimer’s. The findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, could inform novel treatment strategies to combat neurodegenerative diseases.

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A new study explains how a widely used drug is effective against inflammatory bowel disease and rejection of bone marrow transplants, while suggesting another way to address both health issues.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with national collaborators, have identified a series of molecular clues to understanding the formation of cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). The study offers the first genome-wide analysis of the transcriptome of brain microvascular endothelial cells after KRIT1 inactivation.