Diabetes mellitus is a global public health problem whose cases will continue to rise along with the progressive increase in obesity and the aging of the population. People with diabetes exhibit higher risk of cardiovascular complications, especially myocardial infarction (MI). microRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionary conserved small non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of biological processes by interfering in gene expression…
Glycosylation is essential to brain development and function, but prior studies have often been limited to a single analytical technique and excluded region- and sex-specific analyses. Here, using several methodologies, we analyze Asn-linked and Ser/Thr/Tyr-linked protein glycosylation between brain regions and sexes in mice. Brain N-glycans are less complex in sequence and variety compared to other tissues, consisting predominantly of…
President Joe Biden’s administration last week ordered federal agencies to draft uniform policies describing the outside sources of funding that scientists must disclose when they apply for federal grants, and the penalties for failing to do so. Research groups welcome the directive, but wish it had also specified what kinds of foreign collaborations might get a scientist in trouble. The…
There are millions of mutations and other genetic variations in cancer. Understanding which of these mutations is an impactful tumor “driver” compared to an innocuous “passenger”, and what each of the drivers does to the cancer cell, however, has been a challenging undertaking. Many studies rely on bespoke, time-consuming, gene-specific approaches that provide one-dimensional views into a given mutation’s broader…
Investigators led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, have discovered that knocking out a protein regulator in Ewing sarcoma cells causes the tumor cells to die from an overdose of a cancer-promoting protein. The regulator, a protein known as TRIM8, is critical to the survival of Ewing sarcoma cells because it controls the levels of EWS/FLI, a cancer protein or oncoprotein, which drives…
Immune checkpoint inhibitors, which strengthen the immune response against tumor cells, have become standard of care for many patients with advanced cancers; however, the medications can often cause side effects, most commonly affecting the skin. A new study led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and published in JAMA Dermatology indicates that these side effects may actually be an indicator that the medications…
UMass Chan Medical School researchers are embarking on a clinical trial of an mRNA vaccine by Moderna against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a common cause of infectious mononucleosis. EBV has also been associated with several autoimmune disorders and has been implicated in the development of several cancers, including Burkitt and Hodgkin’s lymphomas. The study, called the Eclipse Trial, is a…
A new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School has identified a set of cellular receptors for at least three related alphaviruses shared across mosquitoes, humans, and animals that host these viruses. Going a step further, the researchers tested a “decoy” molecule that successfully prevented infection and slowed disease progression in a series of experiments in cells and animal…
The glory of tissue expansion technologies is that when structures, such as proteins that build nerve cell connections, are too small for a microscope to resolve, clever chemistry can make everything bigger and easier to see. But sometimes the chemical bonds involved form right where fluorescent antibody labels must attach to proteins to make them visible. Now a team of…
The human immune system, that marvel of complexity, subtlety, and sophistication, includes a billion-year-old family of proteins used by bacteria to defend themselves against viruses, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and in Israel have discovered. The findings, published online today by the journal Science, are the latest in a growing body of evidence that components of our immune system – as advanced a…
