: Medicine Articles
News and Views: Neutrophils release brakes of coagulationBlood coagulation protects from microbial infections. A recent study now shows that neutrophils fine tune the procoagulant response to invading pathogens (pages 887?896). Neutrophils degrade an inhibitor of coagulation, locally 'trapping' bacteria in small blood vessels. But they also increase blood clots in large vessels in the absence of infection, which may be relevant for the treatment of thrombosis. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #8, pp851-852 |
News and Views: Turning on the angiogenic microswitchThe angiogenic switch, which leads to the activation of endothelial cell proliferation and the growth of new blood vessels, is a crucial step in tumorigenesis. A study now shows that this process is linked to a microRNA in endothelial cells (909?914). Blocking microRNAs may offer new avenues for antiangiogenesis therapy to treat cancer. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #8, pp853-854 |
News and Views: A needle in the 'cancer vaccine' haystackVaccines can prevent infections by several pathogens. Success, however, has been limited for other chronic diseases, reflecting a constraint for effectively manipulating the human immune system. The results from four studies describe a novel dendritic cell (DC) subset in humans that may be crucial for the design of vaccines against cancer and other chronic diseases. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #8, pp854-856 |
News and Views: Glutamate joins the ranks of immunomodulatorsElevated amounts of glutamate, which acts as a neurotransmitter but is also a neurotoxin, are a hallmark of the autoimmune neurological disease multiple sclerosis and may contribute to its pathology. The discovery that a receptor for glutamate can inhibit the development of autoimmunity and protect from neuroinflammation in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis suggests that glutamate may also have a protective role and that its receptor may represent a therapeutic target (pages 897?902). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #8, pp856-858 |
News and Views: Targeting dendritic cell metabolism in cancerCancers can compromise the capacity of the host immune system to recognize tumor antigens. Recent findings now show that increased accumulation of lipids in dendritic cells in tumors can impair presentation of tumor antigens?which is crucial for activation of the immune system?providing a conceptual framework that may help increase the efficacy of therapeutic vaccines (pages 880?886). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #8, pp858-859 |
Letter: MicroRNA-132?mediated loss of p120RasGAP activates the endothelium to facilitate pathological angiogenesisSudarshan Anand et al. show that endothelial cell expression of the microRNA miR-132 targets a negative regulator of Ras pathway signaling and thereby releases a brake to new blood vessel formation. miR-132 expression is upregulated in the endothelium of human hemangioma and tumor samples, and an antagonist of miR-132, delivered specifically to tumor endothelium using an integrin-targeted nanoparticle, was able to inhibit tumor angiogenesis and growth in mice. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #8, pp909-914 |
