Northwestern Medicine scientists led by Joseph Bass, MD, Ph.D., the Charles F. Kettering Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism and director of the Center for Diabetes and Metabolism, have discovered how disruptions in the circadian rhythm impair metabolic function in fat cells, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms that cause obesity and metabolic disease, according to a recent study published in Nature Metabolism.

“It’s not simply the accrual of excess fat that leads to disease. It’s a change in the actual function and the capacity of the energy center within the cell to work properly,” said Bass, who is also chief of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine in the Department of Medicine and a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

The circadian rhythm is the body’s own internal 24-hour clock that regulates the sleep-wake cycle, hormone levels and metabolism, among other systems throughout the body.

Mouse γδ T cells in cancer immunity.

Mouse γδ T cells are not all the same; rather, they comprise seven subsets that influence progression in several cancer types.

Antitumor γδ T cell subsets can be tissue-resident or circulating cells, which generally rely on glycolysis for energy production, and they mediate cancer cell death via interferon-gamma or orchestration of antitumor immunity.

Protumor γδ T cell subsets use lipids for energy production, and they promote primary tumor growth and metastasis through the production of interleukin17A to modulate the behavior of myeloid cells sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/Seven-subsets,-two-fates

The importance of γδ T cells in cancer, as defenders against tumorigenesis, was established more than 2 decades ago. Since that time, research using mouse models of cancer has brought to light a nonuniform view of tumor-associated γδ T cells by providing granularity into the role of individual γδ T cell subsets in specific cancer types. In this review, we discuss data that highlight the unique contributions of Vγ1+, Vγ4+, Vγ5+, Vγ6+, and Vγ7+ cells throughout cancer progression. We delve into their responses to tumors, including both protective and pathogenic functions. We examine how the mechanisms by which these mouse immune cell subsets shape tumor development and spread can be exploited for therapeutic purposes in people with cancer.

Evidence of some of the earliest dogs has been identified at two University of Liverpool/British Institute at Ankara archaeological excavation projects in central Anatolia, Turkey. Shedding new light on the development and spread of early domestic dogs, the findings are documented in two papers published in Nature.

Providing fascinating insights into dogs’ relationships with people and their rapid spread across Europe and Anatolia, the work involved zooarchaeologists from University College London, University of Liverpool and based in Turkey and ancient DNA and isotope teams from the Natural History Museum, the Universities of Oxford and York, the Francis Crick Institute, and LMU Munich.

Two of the key excavation sites used are led by the University of Liverpool’s Professor Douglas Baird—Pınarbaşı excavated with Karaman museum and Boncuklu excavated with co-directors Professor Fairbairn, University of Queensland and Associate Professor Mustafaoĝlu, Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University. Together, the sites span the transition from the Epipaleolithic (latest Paleolithic) to early Neolithic dated 16,000 to 10,000 years ago.