Li et al. identify deoxycholic acid as a microbiota-derived driver of breast cancer progression. Deoxycholic acid activates farnesoid X receptor signaling to induce interleukin-6 production, promoting immunosuppressive cell recruitment and establishing a metabolite-driven immune regulatory axis with therapeutic potential.
Whether in tooth enamel or in nanomaterials made of silicon, the orientation of tiny internal structures often determines the properties of a material. A new X-ray method can even make this nano-order visible when the structures are actually too small to be imaged directly. The method was developed by an international team led by the Helmholtz Center Hereon, and it opens up new possibilities to investigate materials and biological structures. The research is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.
In medical X-ray imaging, the picture is created by the varying attenuation of X-rays in the body. In order to examine materials or biological tissue in detail, experts use advanced techniques that provide additional information, such as dark-field imaging. This technique exploits the fact that X-rays are scattered, i.e., deflected, at internal interfaces and irregularities. “The scattering reveals a lot about internal structures that are not directly visible in the actual image,” explains Hereon researcher Sami Wirtensohn, first author of the study.
To make these fine structures visible, the dark field method blocks the direct X-ray beam. This allows the detector to capture only the radiation scattered inside the sample. Until now, this method has only been able to show that such structures exist, but not how they are spatially aligned.
An estimated 595 million people globally are living with osteoarthritis. This makes it one of the leading causes of pain and disability.
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease, in which tissues in the joint break down over time. The condition can affect any joint, but most commonly the knees, hips, hands and spine.
However, the impact of osteoarthritis often goes beyond the affected joint. The condition can have profound effects on daily life.
This Review provides an integrated overview of Kupffer cell biology, from their embryonic origin and spatial organization to their functional specialization within the liver. It emphasizes how Kupffer cells act as immune sentinels while also shaping metabolic regulation, tissue repair, infection and cancer and discusses how emerging technologies are refining our understanding of their context-dependent roles across physiological and pathological settings.
Sleep is a vital physiological process that allows humans and other animals to restore both the mind and body, while also consolidating memories, clearing out toxins and regulating their metabolism. Several past studies showed that getting insufficient sleep for prolonged periods of time can trigger inflammatory responses and can negatively impact people’s memory, mood, attention and decision-making.
Researchers at Quanzhou First Hospital, affiliated with Fujian Medical University, recently carried out a mouse study aimed at assessing the potential of a new treatment based on exosomes, tiny membrane-covered vesicles that transport biological material between cells, for reversing some of the adverse effects of chronic sleep deprivation. Their findings, published in Translational Psychiatry, suggest that the delivery of the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) via exosomes could prevent cells in the mouse brain from becoming damaged following prolonged periods of stress and lack of sleep.
“Chronic sleep deprivation impairs cognition and triggers neuroinflammation, but effective molecular therapies are lacking,” wrote Zhenming Kang, Guoshao Zhu and their colleagues in their paper. “Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) offers neuroprotection, though its delivery across the blood–brain barrier remains a challenge. This study investigates exosomes as a vehicle to enhance brain delivery of HSP70 for treating chronic sleep deprivation.”
Li et al. use multimodal MRI to show that cerebral blood volume is inversely correlated with glymphatic influx across six brain states. Lower CBV is associated with expanded extra-ventricular CSF space, and caffeine produces a similar pattern in awake mice, suggesting CBV as a tonic vascular factor complementing pulsation and vasomotion.
A team at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) has uncovered a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism by which cells send signals to one another—an insight that could help researchers better understand how cancers form and, over time, inform new treatment strategies.
In the study, published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, the researchers focus on the Hedgehog signaling pathway, an essential communication system in human development that is frequently disrupted in cancer.
“Cell signaling is like a conversation happening constantly inside our bodies,” says Benjamin Myers, Ph.D., investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute, associate professor of oncological sciences at the U, and senior author of the study. “We uncovered a new way that this pathway transmits signals at the molecular level—and that opens the door to new ways of thinking about how these messages go wrong in disease.”
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor. Standard treatments including surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, have failed to significantly improve the prognosis of glioblastoma patients. Currently, immunotherapeutic approaches based on vaccines, chimeric antigen-receptor T-cells, checkpoint inhibitors, and oncolytic virotherapy are showing promising results in clinical trials. The combination of different immunotherapeutic approaches is proving satisfactory and promising. In view of the challenges of immunotherapy and the resistance of glioblastomas, the treatment of these tumors requires further efforts. In this review, we explore the obstacles that potentially influence the efficacy of the response to immunotherapy and that should be taken into account in clinical trials.
Although cigarette smoking remains the main driver of COPD, e-cigarettes are also raising concerns. Vaping aerosols can contain nicotine, ultrafine particles and flavouring chemicals that may irritate the lungs and contribute to inflammation. The long-term effects are still unclear because these products are relatively new.
That matters particularly for younger people. In Great Britain, recent survey data suggest that 7% of 11-to 17-year-olds currently vape. While that does not mean they will go on to develop COPD, it does mean more young lungs are being exposed to substances whose long-term effects are not yet fully understood.
COPD is often diagnosed only after major lung damage has already occurred. Because it develops so gradually, people may dismiss early breathlessness, coughing or mucus production as a consequence of getting older, being unfit or smoking. Respiratory organisations warn that symptoms such as cough, phlegm and shortness of breath should not be treated as a normal part of ageing, while studies show that COPD remains widely underdiagnosed, including among people with respiratory symptoms.