: Medicine Articles
News and Views: A sweet target for innate immunityGalectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins with diverse activities, but there is no unifying picture of their primary physiological role. Galectins now emerge as autonomous bacteria-killing agents (pages 295?301), unexpected findings that may point to a principal role of these proteins in innate immunity. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp263-264 |
News and Views: Rebuilding Humpty Dumpty with a serotonin inhibitorSerotonin produced in the gut reduces the formation of bone. This biology is now harnessed with an orally available inhibitor of gut serotonin synthesis (pages 308?312). The inhibitor promotes bone formation in rodents and points the way to the development of much-needed bone-building drugs. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp264-265 |
News and Views: Ido brings down the pressure in systemic inflammationSystemic inflammation results in a life-threatening drop in blood pressure. Targeting known players of blood pressure regulation has so far failed to improve outcomes for individuals with sepsis. But a study points to a regulatory pathway involving the amino acid metabolite kynurenine that may provide new avenues for therapies (pages 279?285). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp265-267 |
News and Views: Lipids control mucus production in cystic fibrosisAltered lipid metabolism underlies the production of excess mucus in a mouse model of cystic fibrosis (313?318). The findings point to the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator?activated receptor-? (PPAR-?) as a potential therapeutic target in this disease. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp267-268 |
News and Views: HIV vaccines: mosaic approach to virus diversityThe extraordinary diversity of HIV is a major barrier in the path of developing a vaccine. One way forward may be mosaic antigens?biometrically designed genes that maximize overlap between sequences used in the vaccine and circulating HIV-1 strains worldwide (pages 319?323 and 324?328). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp268-270 |
News and Views: Spasticity: a switch from inhibition to excitationThe involuntary muscle spasms that occur as a result of neuromotor disorders and spinal cord injury can have dangerous consequences for affected individuals. New findings shed light on one mechanism contributing to spasticity: limited chloride transport in motoneurons (pages 302?307). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp270-271 |
Letter: Pharmacological inhibition of gut-derived serotonin synthesis is a potential bone anabolic treatment for osteoporosisOsteoporosis results from misregulation of bone catabolism and bone anabolism, resulting in severe bone loss. Most current therapies act by decreasing bone catabolism, but targeting bone anabolism is more desired, because once bone is lost, it is difficult to replace. In a new report by Gerard Karsenty and his colleagues, they show that orally delivered pharmacological targeting of serotonin synthesis in the gut is sufficient to increase bone anabolism and thus restore lost bone in rat and mouse models of well-established osteoporosis (pages 264?265). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp308-312 |
Letter: Pharmacological correction of a defect in PPAR-? signaling ameliorates disease severity in Cftr-deficient miceDefects in the ion transporter CFTR result in cystic fibrosis, which is marked by excessive mucous buildup in the lungs and colon and premature death. Christopher Glass and his colleagues now show that these aspects of the disease are associated with defects in PPAR-? signaling in epithelial cells and that a synthetic agonist of this nuclear receptor is sufficient to partially normalize signaling and improve survival of a mouse model (pages 267?268). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp313-318 |
Letter: Mosaic HIV-1 vaccines expand the breadth and depth of cellular immune responses in rhesus monkeysVaccine design is challenging when the infectious agent is genetically diverse. Polyvalent 'mosaic' antigens might be used to address this challenge, and these two studies show promising results in monkeys infected with HIV-1 (pages 268?270 and 324?328). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp319-323 |
Letter: Mosaic vaccines elicit CD8+ T lymphocyte responses that confer enhanced immune coverage of diverse HIV strains in monkeysVaccine design is challenging when the infectious agent is genetically diverse. Polyvalent 'mosaic' antigens might be used to address this challenge, and these two studies show promising results in monkeys infected with HIV-1 (pages 268?270 and pages 319?323). Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp324-328 |
Letter: Concerted action of cellular JNK and Pin1 restricts HIV-1 genome integration to activated CD4+ T lymphocytesThe concerted action of JNK and Pin1 on viral integrase regulate permissiveness of activated CD4+ T cells to HIV-1 infection, whereas lack of these modifications restricts viral infection in nonactivated lymphocytes. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp329-333 |
Letter: A virus-like particle vaccine for epidemic Chikungunya virus protects nonhuman primates against infectionChikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging infectious agent that can cause severe disease in humans and against which there is presently no vaccine. Akahata et al. now describe their development of a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine that elicits neutralizing antibodies against CHIKV and can protect nonhuman primates from infection. Their VLP-based approach may facilitate development of a CHIKV vaccine for human use. Nature Medicine, vol. 16 #3, pp334-338 |
