A recent study by the University of Melbourne (Australia) revealed that memory CD8+ T-cell responses are potentially initiated within peripheral tissues through the combined interaction of memory cells, CD4+ T-cells and recruited dendritic cells.h  » Read more

A research team from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) recently discovered that the RNA interference (RNAi) orchestrated heterochromatin that flanks the central kinetochore domain at fission yeast centromeres. This is required to promote CENP-A^CNP1 and kinetochore assembly over the central domain. Heterochromatin is tightly packed chromosomal DNA and usually genetically inactive. It is defined by modifications on histones happening after translation, such as methylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9). The methylation enables heterochromatin protein 1-related chromodomain proteins to bind. Heterochromatin is often localised close to CENP-A chromatin, the key determinant of kinetochore assembly.  » Read more

An antidepressant for humans increases the lifespan of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. The drug usually blocks neural signalling by the neurotransmitter serotonin in human patients.  » Read more

After tumour cell vaccination, tumour cells were found to be exclusively inside the spleen if the injection had been set directly into the spleen. The location of immunisation is a factor influencing the efficiency of tumour cell vaccination.  » Read more

Urokinase receptor signalling in podocytes causes foot process effacement and urinary protein loss. The mechanism responsible includes the lipid-dependent activation of integrin-αvβ3, as scientists from the Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA) showed.  » Read more

Homer2 and Homer3, two cytoplasmic scaffolding proteins hinder T-cell activation. T-cells are activated by T-cell receptor (TCR) and costimulatory receptor (CD28) signals. This process is inhibited by binding of NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T cells) and by competing with calcineurin.  » Read more

In a recent study published in the Journal “Circulation”, scientists from the University Hospital Aachen (Germany) demonstrate the relevance of a cold shock protein for the development of cardiovascular disease. The novelty of the in vitro and in vivo studies relates to the functional role of Y-box protein-1 in the transcriptional regulation of chemokine CCL5 (RANTES) in smooth muscle cells.  » Read more

Interleukin-12 and IFN-γ usually power T helper cell type 1 differentiation. The IFN-γ-induced transcription factor IRF1 seems to be essential in T helper cell type 1 differentiation by acting on IL-12rb1, the gene encoding for the beta1 subunit of the Interleukin-12 receptor (IL-12Rbeta1). This was reported by Shin-ichi Kano and collaborators from the University of Tokyo. According to their research, IRF1 interacts directly with the IL-12rb1 promoter in CD4+ T cells and activates it.  » Read more

The nucleus reformation during mitosis is stimulated by hexameric ATPase p97 that inactivates the chromatin-associated kinase Aurora B. Kristijan Ramadan and Roland Bruderer from the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, observed Aurora B to inhibit nucleus reformation by preventing decondensation of the chromosomes and arrangement of a nuclear double-membrane around the chromatin, two processes required for nucleus reformation.  » Read more

TGF-ß1 synthesized by proximal tubular cells (PTC) is an important stimulus of fibrosis in progressive renal disease. TGF-ß1 mRNA has low basal translational efficiency in PTC, and translation is stimulated by profibrotic cytokines.

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The Deubiquitinating Enzyme A (DUBA) turns out to be a negative regulator of innate immune responses. A recent study conducted by N. Kayagaki from the biotech business firm Genentech (USA) discovered the deubiquitinating enzyme with the ovarian tumor domain as regulator of IFN type 1 production, which is a crucial host defense, caused by pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) of the innate immune system.  » Read more

Developing effective measures against avian influenza virus remains a high priority due to the threat of a lethal outbreak as the birds are to return from their winter residencies. Vaccines based on influenza virus-like particles (VLP) have been viewed as a promising path to developing an effective measure against this danger.  » Read more