Some autoimmune diseases are different in women and men. A group of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has found a strong female bias in the response of a neurotransmitter receptor that is involved in many neurological processes. Their study identified the hyperactivity of the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) in the intestine and associated it with the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) in female mice.

The bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) forms organelles that help them defend against iron in the colon. According to a group of scientists from Vanderbilt University, this pathogen, which causes serious gastrointestinal infections, expresses fez genes to build structures called ferrosomes that store excess iron that is toxic to it. Its ferrosomes are surrounded by membrane and could be a target against this microorganism.

The generation of in vitro small blood vessels mimicking the alterations of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) allowed a British research group to identify a way to seal leaks to treat conditions such as stroke or vascular dementia. The inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), enzymes that participate in the formation of new vessels, restored the normal union of the cells, preventing the permeability of the system.

A new derivative of coumarin, a natural plant product abundant in cinnamon, could hold the key to healthy aging. Researchers at the Buck Institute have shown that it extended life span and prevented neurodegenerative disease in worms and mice. The drug, a TFEB gene inducer called MIC, promoted mitochondria recycling (mitophagy) but also interacted with lysosomes, which could have multiple applications. The scientists published the results of this aging and mitophagy study on Nov. 13, 2023, in Nature Aging.

Some strategies seek to alter molecular mechanisms that can redirect the programmed death of tumor cells. If you can’t selectively eliminate them or stop their proliferation, ask them to die, but don’t tell any other cells. That is the idea proposed by a group of researchers participating in a Chinese-American collaboration for the design of the new drug N6F11. In a mouse model, the compound caused death by ferroptosis only of cancer cells without altering immune cells.

Scientists at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) have designed a group of synthetic molecules that could prevent the rejection of allogeneic cell transplants. Their strategy consisted of activating the immune checkpoints of different populations of immune cells from the cell surface, but avoiding the cytotoxicity of natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages that would destroy the transplanted cells.

The largest genetic analysis of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) carried out to date has identified almost 100 new risk variants linked to the disorder. The study also highlighted a possible therapeutic target for this pathology that, at the moment, has no treatment. AAA affects 4% of people over 65 years of age in the U.S. and causes 41,000 deaths per year. The incidence is three to four times higher in men than in women.

The Congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) held in Madrid from Oct. 20 to 24, 2023, could well add the letter W to its acronym after the four sessions on gynecological cancer that could represent a milestone in the lives of all women who suffer from cervical, ovarian, or endometrial cancer.

To understand the human brain, an international consortium of scientists has created the most complete atlas of this organ to date. The map reveals the anatomy, the architecture of the tissues, how or where each cell is, their function, gene expression and regulation. On Oct. 12, 2023, Science and Science Advances published a group of 21 studies that unveiled the map of the human brain, as well as the brains of nonhuman primates and mice, cell by cell, for an adult model and for the different stages of development.

Some cancers with a poor prognosis have had no new treatments in decades. Advances in the genetic characterization of these tumors now offer a range of possibilities for the development of new therapies that could completely change the quality of life and survival of these patients.