A study has revealed how the Epstein-Barr virus triggers T-cell responses that may drive autoimmunity in MS patients. Researchers showed how B-cell depleting therapy can calm this response, providing a foundation for the design of new antivirals.
Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.
Webb telescope discovers hidden planet in famous star system
Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant planet outside our solar system, called an exoplanet, hiding within one of the most intensely studied planetary systems in the Milky Way galaxy.
The young, nearby star Beta Pictoris was already known to host two giant planets: Beta Pictoris b, one of the first exoplanets ever directly imaged, and Beta Pictoris c. The newly identified Beta Pictoris d makes it only the second planetary system known to contain at least three imaged planets.
Unlike Beta Pictoris b and c, however, Beta Pictoris d was discovered not by identifying a bright point of light but by detecting the unique chemical fingerprint of its atmosphere, a technique that could transform the search for worlds around other stars.
Abstract: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and
2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Address correspondence to: Mei Wan, Ross Building, Room 209,720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21,205, USA. Email: [email protected].
Abstract: Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
2 Departments of Medicine and of Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
3Nephrology Service, Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Newly Discovered ‘Footprint of Death’ May Help Viruses Spread
The cell churn that goes on inside our bodies is vast, with hundreds of billions of cells dying off and being replaced every day. Keeping that constant biological overhaul running smoothly is crucial in maintaining good health.
Researchers have now identified a new ‘footprint of death’ that cells leave behind as they die to guide the immune system in its waste-removal role.
It seems this process can also be hijacked by viruses to spread themselves further.
Before babies can hear, their brains are already wiring for sound
Long before a baby’s ears are functional, the brain is already building the circuitry needed for hearing, according to new research from Johns Hopkins University. Published in the journal Science Advances, the study in mice identifies a previously unknown neural “shortcut” that organizes the auditory system before birth, offering new insight into how the auditory system prepares to process sound and eventually learn language.
While it’s well-known that sound travels from the ear to the auditory cortex, the brain’s hub for hearing, Johns Hopkins researchers discovered a new neural circuit that bypasses the ear entirely. Their findings show that the frontal cortex—the region involved in vocalization—sends signals directly to the auditory cortex, allowing the developing brain to activate hearing-related circuits before external sounds can be heard.
“Our results provide the first direct functional evidence of this biological shortcut that doesn’t go through hearing,” says senior author Patrick Kanold, a professor of biomedical engineering and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. “It’s a novel brain activity source that can shape the earliest development in mammals, like interpreting information and discerning complex sounds.”
Breakdown of immune cells’ interaction is key driver in aging, study finds
We may age at different rates, but none of us escapes aging. A study in mice and human cells by Stanford Medicine researchers pins much of the blame on a particular type of immune cell’s increasing inability, with advancing age, to gobble up another immune cell type.
So-called tissue-resident macrophages appear to be central coordinators of age-related organ decline. Blocking a single receptor on these cells preserved the youthfulness of multiple organs in mice, including the brain, heart, skeletal and heart muscle, liver, spleen, bone marrow, kidney and colon. The receptor binds specifically to a hormone known to cause inflammation and pain in humans as well as mice.
In mice, selectively disabling this receptor exclusively on tissue-resident macrophages prevented chronic inflammation-driven disorders of aging, including frailty, excessive fat accumulation and heart trouble. It also substantially slowed cognitive decline, said Katrin Andreasson, MD, the Edward F. and Irene Thiel Pimley professor of neurology and neurological sciences.
Researchers identify immune cell that builds cancer-fighting hubs inside tumors
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified the immune cell that acts as the architect and coordinator of powerful immune hubs that form inside tumors and plays a key role in antitumor immunity. This discovery could lead to new strategies for making cancer immunotherapies more effective.
The findings, published in Science, reveal that a specialized immune cell called dendritic cell type 1 is essential for building and maintaining structures known as tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs). These organized clusters of immune cells serve as local command centers, or immune “outposts,” where the body coordinates attacks against cancer directly within tumors.
Previous research has shown that patients whose tumors contain TLSs often live longer and respond better to immunotherapy. Until now, however, scientists did not know what controlled the formation and maintenance of these protective immune hubs.