Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers have identified a metabolic switch that determines whether intestinal stem cells become absorptive or secretory cells. Manipulating the enzyme OGDH either fuels cell expansion or redirects fate, with potential consequences for colitis recovery and regenerative therapy.

Stem cells in the intestine maintain a delicate balance between self-renewal and differentiation, continuously replenishing the epithelial lining of the gut.

As they divide, some daughter cells become absorptive enterocytes that expand the surface for nutrient uptake, while others branch into secretory cells that manufacture mucus, antimicrobial peptides, and hormones essential for gut immunity. Injury and inflammation can tip this balance, depleting secretory lineages and disrupting tissue integrity.

Leukemia cells use taurine to produce energy and grow, a study in Nature by a Wilmot Cancer institute team shows.

Two key protein structures in the body are being visualized for the first time, thanks in part to the latest technology in the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Advanced Structural Biology—potentially opening the door for better designed therapeutics.

The research of a trio of UC structural biologists was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

It’s the first publication to come out of the Seegar Lab at UC. Tom Seegar, Ph.D., Ohio Eminent Scholar and assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences in the College of Medicine, serves as corresponding author of the study.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells are a promising cancer therapy that are made from the patient’s own T cells, which are reprogrammed to fight their cancer. One of the limitations of CAR-T cell therapy is the ability of these cells to survive long enough to target the entire tumor.

Once injected back into the patient, the CAR-T cells tend to rapidly expand when they become activated by the tumor cells, but eventually die off due to a natural process called activation-induced cell death.

In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, a research team discovered a way to alter CAR-T cells so they can partially avoid activation-induced cell death, which allows them to live longer and better fight off the tumor.