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Immunotactoid glomerulopathy occurs in adults, on average at 60 years of age, and often presents with nephrotic proteinuria, reduced glomerular filtration rate, and hypocomplementemia in half of affected patients. Patients do not have cryoglobulins, but a circulating monoclonal paraprotein and/or lymphoplasmacytic malignancy is present in about two-thirds. Prognosis depends on the outcome of the associated disease, with half of the affected patients achieving remission with therapy directed at the malignancy.

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The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city’s direction. Next Lives Here.

Study coauthors include UC’s Sreekar Puchala and Anca Ralescu and Ethan Muchnik of the University of Oregon. The study authors declare no competing interests.

This work was supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, through the Defense Medical Research and Development Program under Award No. W81XWH-16–2–0020. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense.

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Keywords: technological advances, economical inequality, GinI coefficient, Ricci flow, Perelman models, technological innovations, research and development, innovations, sensitive analyze, automatization, economic stability, socio-economic challenges.

JEL Classification: E22, O11, O32.

Cite as: Gondauri, D. (2024). SocioEconomic Challenges, 8, 161–175. https://doi.org/10.61093/sec.8.161-175.2024.

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Genome sequencing of cancer and normal tissues, alongside single-cell transcriptomics, continues to produce findings that challenge the idea that cancer is a ‘genetic disease’, as posited by the somatic mutation theory (SMT). In this prevailing paradigm, tumorigenesis is caused by cancer-driving somatic mutations and clonal expansion. However, results from tumor sequencing, motivated by the genetic paradigm itself, create apparent ‘paradoxes’ that are not conducive to a pure SMT. But beyond genetic causation, the new results lend credence to old ideas from organismal biology. To resolve inconsistencies between the genetic paradigm of cancer and biological reality, we must complement deep sequencing with deep thinking: embrace formal theory and historicity of biological entities, and (re)consider non-genetic plasticity of cells and tissues. In this Essay, we discuss the concepts of cell state dynamics and tissue fields that emerge from the collective action of genes and of cells in their morphogenetic context, respectively, and how they help explain inconsistencies in the data in the context of SMT.

Citation: Huang S, Soto AM, Sonnenschein C (2025) The end of the genetic paradigm of cancer. PLoS Biol 23: e3003052. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.

Copyright: © 2025 Huang et al. This is an open access distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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A new method inspired by coral reefs can capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and transform it into durable, fire-resistant building materials, offering a promising solution for carbon-negative construction.

The approach, developed by USC researchers and detailed in a study published in npj Advanced Manufacturing, draws inspiration from the ocean’s ’ natural ability to create robust structures by sequestering carbon dioxide. The resulting mineral-polymer composites demonstrate extraordinary mechanical strength, fracture toughness and fire-resistance capabilities.

“This is a pivotal step in the evolution of converting carbon dioxide,” said Qiming Wang, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. “Unlike traditional technologies that focus on storing carbon dioxide or converting it into liquid substances, we found this new electrochemical manufacturing process converts the chemical compound into calcium carbonate minerals in 3D-printed polymer scaffolds.”

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