News and thoughts
HIF1α or mitophagy: which drives cardiomyocyte differentiation?
Beatriz Villarejo-Zori1,#, Juan Ignacio Jiménez-Loygorri1,# and Patricia Boya1
Cardiomyocytes (CMs) are the main cellular component of the heart's atria and ventricles, and their contractile capacity is the engine that drives blood flow throughout the body. The differentiation of
Copper – a novel stimulator of autophagy
Hans Zischka1,2 and Guido Kroemer3-7
In biomedicine, the transition metal copper has a Janus-faced dual role, as an essential but static cofactor of vital enzymes but also as a highly detrimental poison, if in excess.
ACBP is an appetite stimulator across phylogenetic barriers
Frank Madeo1,2, Nektarios Tavernarakis3,4, José M. Bravo-San Pedro5-7,# and Guido Kroemer5-10,#
Human civilization is unique with respect to the organization of our natural environment, allowing constant supply of nutrients to most individuals in developed countries, contrasting with the natural fluctuation in
LTX-315 – a promising novel antitumor peptide and immunotherapeutic agent
Dagmar Zweytick1,2
Host defense in mammals, as provided by the innate immune system, comprises proteins such as lactoferrin (LF), a multifunctional iron-binding glycoprotein originally discovered in bovine milk. LF is further pepsin-cleaved
Anti-regulatory T cells are natural regulatory effector T cells
Niels Ødum 1
It is well established that the immune system uses regulatory immune-suppressive cells to inhibit and terminate immune reactions and maintain immune balance. In the last decade, Andersen and colleagues have
Mitochondrial stress delays tumorigenesis in a Li-Fraumeni syndrome mouse model
Matthew P. Donnelly1, Jie Li1 and Paul M. Hwang1
As a prominent hub of metabolic activity, the mitochondrion can initiate retrograde signaling in response to bioenergetic stress that is important for various adaptive changes including cell cycle regulation [1][2].
Mitochondria organize the cellular proteostatic response and promote cellular senescence
Yanjun Li1, Lei Liu2, Yushan Zhu1 and Quan Chen1,2
Timely disposal and degradation of misfolded proteins and their aggregates is critical for cellular proteostasis and the well-being of a cell. During evolution, cells have acquired a sophisticated system to
Base editors: a powerful tool for generating animal models of human diseases
Zongyang Lu1,2 and Xingxu Huang1,3
BASE EDITORS: A NOVEL GENOME ENGINEERING TOOL Genetically engineered mouse models of human diseases have long been used in understanding the underlying mechanisms of the clinically relevant genetic disorders. In
Unweaving the role of nuclear Lamins in neural circuit integrity
Samantha L. Deal1 and Shinya Yamamoto1,2,3,4
Structural integrity of the nuclear membrane is essential for the homeostasis of eukaryotic cells. Critical components of this process are Lamins or type-V intermediate filament proteins that form a meshwork