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X and Y Chromosomes Play a Direct Role in Aging, Immunity, and Cancer

A new review published in Science brings together growing evidence that the X and Y chromosomes do much more than determining biological sex. They also shape how cells function, age and respond to disease.

Differences in health between men and women have long been attributed mainly to sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. However, genes on the X and Y chromosomes also play a direct role, working both on their own and alongside hormones.

The review was co-led by University of Arizona Cancer Center physician-scientist Dr. Dan Theodorescu and Dr. Dena B. Dubal of the University of California, San Francisco. It describes how sex chromosomes influence immunity, metabolism, brain aging, cancer and heart disease, and what this could mean for diagnosis, treatment and the design of clinical trials.

Finally: Rose-Tinted Solar Panels Could Let Crops And Electricity Share The Same Land

Plants are the original solar panels, and they’re very good at converting light into energy – red and blue light, that is.

But what if a solar panel could co-exist with plants, capturing the light that they aren’t using while allowing those red and blue wavelengths through?

That’s what a team led by Silvia Ma Lu of Mälardalen University in Sweden has tested in a new study, using semi-transparent, rose-tinted solar panels that let specific wavelengths of light through to plants growing below, while also capturing solar energy for electricity.

Physicists Find a Superconductor That ‘Breaks’ The Symmetry of Time — A First For Its Kind

Under certain conditions – such as bone-brittling temperatures lower than that of deep space – superconductors can conduct electricity without resistance and resultant energy loss.

Though they vary in their chemical composition, operational temperature ranges, and magnetic properties, superconductors come in two groupings.

First, conventional and unconventional superconductors differ in how their electrons become entangled in tandems called Cooper pairs, an identity-sharing state that allows them to gracefully glide through the atomic jumble of their materials to facilitate uninterrupted electric flow.

Cell-preservation technique could make CAR-T cell therapy more accessible

Immune cells that are engineered to attack cancer cells, known as CAR-T cells, are used to treat some types of blood cancer. However, only about 5 percent of hospitals in the United States have the ability to generate and deliver CAR-T cells to patients. For many patients, this means the cells need to be frozen and shipped long-distance.

To help make this type of therapy accessible to more people, researchers at MIT have developed a new way to protect the cells from damage that can occur when they are frozen for storage and shipment. Their technique significantly reduces the use of a chemical preservative that is now used to protect the cells, which should make it easier for more hospitals to provide this treatment option to patients.

Instead of treating the cells with a cryoprotective chemical that has to be removed before treatment, the researchers were able to preserve them using a nontoxic antifreeze sugar.

Neuroepithelial Tumor with AAV Integration after Intracisternal Magna Vector Delivery

Clinical report on a boy who developed a brain tumor after AAV gene therapy for treating his mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS). Fortunately, the boy has so far survived and thrived despite the MPS, the cancer, and the surgery to remove the tumor. Molecular analysis of the tumor revealed that it was caused by integration of parts of the AAV’s DNA into the genome, triggering overexpression of an oncogene called PLAG1. This case highlights the clinical importance of rare integration events in AAV gene therapy and reminds us that we must remain vigilant of the risks from these treatments.

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are predominantly nonintegrating, but rare genomic integration events have been associated with oncogenesis in neonatal murine models. Here we report a case of a neuroepithelial tumor that developed in a 5-year-old boy with severe mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPSI, Hurler subtype) 4 years after intracisternal magna administration of AAV serotype 9 gene therapy. The patient underwent successful resection of the primary tumor. Postoperatively, he has continued to have advanced cognitive function for his age, a finding that indicates mitigation of MPSI. Molecular analysis of the tumor showed clonal integration of rearranged AAV vector elements into the gene PLAG1 and expression of a chimeric AAV-PLAG1 transcript.

Mitochondrial carrier SLC25A34 links clock, diet, and temperature control of adipocyte lipid cycling

An unexpected and potentially big finding:

A single mitochondrial protein has an outsized role, acting as a central node, coordinating our circadian clock, temperature, dietary cues, sleep/wake cycle to control brown fat metabolism.

Brown/beige fat burns energy to keep the body warm and is linked to metabolic health. Its activity follows a daily rhythm (high when you’re awake, low during sleep), but it can also ramp up *suddenly* in response to cold weather or a fatty meal. How one system handles both scheduled and surprise demands was a mystery — until now.

The answer: one mitochondrial protein, SLC25A34.

The researchers found that three different signals — the circadian clock, diet, and temperature — all funnel through a single orphan mitochondrial transporter called SLC25A34.

How it works:

- During sleep: The circadian clock proteins REV-ERBα/β shut off SLC25A34 production.

Continue reading “Mitochondrial carrier SLC25A34 links clock, diet, and temperature control of adipocyte lipid cycling” | >
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