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The role of the immune tumor microenvironment in shaping metastatic dissemination, dormancy, and outgrowth

Immune and stromal orchestration of the pre-metastatic niche👇

✅Priming distant organs before tumor cell arrival Primary tumors actively condition distant organs by releasing soluble factors, cytokines, and tumor-derived exosomes. These signals recruit monocytes and neutrophils and reprogram resident immune and stromal cells, initiating the formation of a pre-metastatic niche (PMN) that becomes permissive to future metastatic seeding.

✅Role of monocytes and macrophages Recruited monocytes differentiate into inflammatory or immunosuppressive macrophages depending on the local context. In organs such as the lung and liver, these cells promote extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, fibrotic deposition, and secretion of growth factors, creating a supportive scaffold for disseminated tumor cells (DTCs).

✅Neutrophils as niche architects Neutrophils contribute to PMN formation through the release of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), inflammatory cytokines, and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). These processes alter tissue architecture, enhance inflammation, and support tumor cell survival and reactivation.

✅Organ-specific niche specialization Different organs develop distinct PMNs. In the lung, inflammatory macrophages and neutrophils drive ECM remodeling and leukotriene signaling. In the liver, fibrosis, granulins, and chemokine-driven immune cell recruitment promote an immunosuppressive environment favorable for metastatic colonization.

✅Fate of disseminated tumor cells Once DTCs arrive, they face multiple outcomes. Some are eliminated by immune surveillance, others enter long-term dormancy, and a subset evades immunity to initiate metastatic outgrowth. ECM composition, immune pressure, and stromal signaling critically determine these divergent fates.

✅Dormancy and reawakening Dormant DTCs can persist in a latent state for prolonged periods. Changes in ECM remodeling, inflammatory signaling, or immune suppression can trigger their reawakening, leading to renewed proliferation and metastatic progression.

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Out-of-season water escape during Mars’ northern summer triggered by a strong localized dust storm

Observations compiled from several Mars observation missions suggest a significant but short-lived dust storm during the Northern hemisphere summer of Mars Year 37 drove substantial vertical transport of water vapor into the upper atmosphere.

Aerobic respiration began hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought, study suggests

Oxygen is a vital and constant presence on Earth today. But that hasn’t always been the case. It wasn’t until around 2.3 billion years ago that oxygen became a permanent fixture in the atmosphere, during a pivotal period known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), which set the evolutionary course for oxygen-breathing life as we know it today. A new study by MIT researchers suggests some early forms of life may have evolved the ability to use oxygen hundreds of millions of years before the GOE. The findings may represent some of the earliest evidence of aerobic respiration on Earth.

In their study published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, MIT geobiologists traced the evolutionary origins of a key enzyme that enables organisms to use oxygen. The enzyme is found in the vast majority of aerobic, oxygen-breathing lifeforms today. The team discovered that this enzyme evolved during the Mesoarchean —a geological period that predates the Great Oxidation Event by hundreds of millions of years.

The team’s results may help to explain a longstanding puzzle in Earth’s history: Why did it take so long for oxygen to build up in the atmosphere?

Big Bang May Not Be The Beginning of Everything, New Theory Suggests

The Big Bang is often described as the explosive birth of the Universe – a singular moment when space, time and matter sprang into existence.

But what if this was not the beginning at all? What if our Universe emerged from something else – something more familiar and radical at the same time?

In a new paper, published in Physical Review D, my colleagues and I propose a striking alternative. Our calculations suggest the Big Bang was not the start of everything, but rather the outcome of a gravitational crunch or collapse that formed a very massive black hole – followed by a bounce inside it.

Los Alamos Forms Quantum Computing-Focused Research Center

PRESS RELEASE — Los Alamos National Laboratory has formed the Center for Quantum Computing, which will bring together the Lab’s diverse quantum computing research capabilities. Headquartered in downtown Los Alamos, the Center for Quantum Computing will consolidate the Laboratory’s expertise in national security applications, quantum algorithms, quantum computer science and workforce development in a shared research space.

“This new center of excellence will bring together the Laboratory’s quantum computing research capabilities that support Department of Energy, Defense and New Mexico state initiatives to achieve a critical mass of expertise greater than the individual parts,” said Mark Chadwick, associate Laboratory director for Simulation, Computing and Theory. “This development highlights our commitment to supporting the next generation of U.S. scientific and technological innovation in quantum computing, especially as the technology can support key Los Alamos missions.”

The center will bring together as many as three dozen quantum researchers from across the Lab. The center’s formation occurs at a pivotal time for the development of quantum computing, as Lab researchers partner with private industry and on a number of state and federal quantum computing initiatives to bring this high-priority technology closer to fruition. Laboratory researchers may include those working with the DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, the DOE’s Quantum Science Center, the National Nuclear Security Administration Advanced Simulation and Computing program’s Beyond Moore’s Law project, and multiple Laboratory Directed Research and Development projects.

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