A team led by Paul Hergenrother at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (UIUC) has developed a novel antibiotic named lolamicin that was specific for gram-negative bacteria but did not harm the gut microbiome composition in mouse models.

Researchers from the University of Florida have developed a novel mRNA cancer vaccine that aims to reprogram the immune system to target and attack cancer cells effectively. The study led by Elias Sayour reported a new mRNA vaccine design where the mRNA payload was wrapped into a multilamellar vesicle within an onion-like hierarchical structure. The findings were published in the May 9, 2024 issue of Cell.

Wound healing is a highly specialized dynamic process for the repair of damaged/injured tissues through an intricate mechanism. Any failure in the normal wound healing process results in abnormal scar formation, and a chronic state which is more susceptible to infections. Researchers from Monash University in Australia and Osaka University in Japan have demonstrated that the removal of a specific subtype of sensory neurons containing the Nav1.8+ ion channel significantly impairs skin wound repair and muscle regeneration following injury.

In a recent study led by Soman Abraham from Duke University, investigators observed that an increase in nociceptive sensory nerves in urinary tract biopsies from patients with recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs) was linked to elevated nerve growth factor (NGF) from monocytes and mast cells. This overgrowth of nerve cells appeared to cause lingering symptoms after rUTIs.

In a recent study led by Soman Abraham from Duke University, investigators observed that an increase in nociceptive sensory nerves in urinary tract biopsies from patients with recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs) was linked to elevated nerve growth factor (NGF) from monocytes and mast cells. This overgrowth of nerve cells appeared to cause lingering symptoms after rUTIs. These findings, appearing in the March 1, 2024, online edition of Science Immunology, have the potential to provide a new approach to managing symptoms of rUTIs that would reduce unnecessary antibiotic usage.

Researchers at Kanazawa University, Japan, have reported a mixed-glial culture on/in soft substrate (MGS) platform to investigate cancer-glia interactions in vitro. Using this model, they showed that astrocytes favored brain metastasis by promoting metabotropic glutamate mGlu1 receptor (mGluR1) expression in cancer cells and stabilizing EGFR. Eishu Hirata, an associate professor at the Cancer Research Institute, Division of Tumor Cell Biology and Bioimaging at Kanazawa University, and his team published their work on Feb. 2, 2024, in Developmental Cell.

JAK1 signaling promotes skin inflammation and is a major therapeutic target for atopic dermatitis-related itching. But in a study appearing in the Jan. 4, 2024, print issue of Cell after earlier publication online, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, led by dermatologist Brian Kim, found that intrinsic JAK1 signaling in sensory neurons had an immunoprotective effect in the lung. The findings suggest a more precise and personalized approach is required to potentially expand JAK inhibitor use to a wider range of allergy and inflammatory disorders.

A multi-institutional research team has suggested that aberrant TDP-43 processing of the pre-mRNA of a microtubule-associated protein, stathmin-2 (STMN2), may be the primary contributor to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

A team of scientists at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School has discovered the putative cancer target UDP-glucuronate decarboxylase 1 (UXS1) in cancer cells expressing high levels of UDP-glucose 6-dehydrogenase (UGDH). UXS1 is a Golgi enzyme that appears downstream of UGDH and converts UDP-glucuronate (UDPGA) to UDP-xylose. The study also showed that UXS1 not only cleared away UDPGA but also limited its production through negative feedback on UGDH. They published their results on Oct. 25, 2023, in the online edition of Nature.

Researchers led by faculty at the Ohio State University College of Medicine have identified a previously unrecognized connection between microtubule-associated protein 6 (MAP6) and the Kv3.1 voltage-gated potassium (K+) channel – two proteins with different functions. The physical interaction between two neuronal proteins appears to maintain normal movement, anxiety and long-term recognition memory in mice.