News and thoughts

Membrane closure in stress induced-autophagosome formation

Eiji Morita1

Autophagy (macroautophagy) is a bulk degradation system that sequesters cytoplasmic components by generating double-layered isolation membranes and delivering these isolated contents to the lysosomes [cite]10.1146/annurev-cellbio-092910-154005[/cite]. Though this pathway was originally

Novel role of the SIRT4-OPA1 axis in mitochondrial quality control

Alexander Lang1 and Roland P. Piekorz1

Aging is defined by various molecular and cellular hallmarks, among them stem cell exhaustion, genomic instability, altered proteostasis, cellular senescence, and mitochondrial dysfunction [cite]10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.039[/cite]. Mitochondrial defects are considered major drivers

Metastatic-initiating cells and lipid metabolism

Salvador Aznar Benitah1,2

INTRODUCTION Metastasis is an inefficient process at the cellular level, yet it is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths [cite]10.1016/j.stem.2014.02.002[/cite]. Despite intense investigation, the identity of the tumor cells with

Tumor suppressive Ca2+ signaling is driven by IP3 receptor fitness

Geert Bultynck1 and Michelangelo Campanella2,3

Intracellular Ca2+ signals critically control a plethora of cellular functions, of which many impact cellular death and/or survival, processes often dysregulated in cancer [cite]10.1038/nrc.2017.18[/cite]. In healthy cells, Ca2+ signaling is

The long non-coding RNA H19 – a new player in hepatocellular carcinoma

Maximilian A. Ardelt1 and Johanna Pachmayr2

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the most prevalent and lethal cancers worldwide [cite]10.3322/caac.20107[/cite]. Incidence is increasing and due to its high chemoresistance, the therapeutic options are limited and HCC has

TFEB-mTORC1 feedback loop in metabolism and cancer

Chiara Di Malta1 and Andrea Ballabio1,2,3,4

Everyday most organisms face the requirement to adapt their metabolic cues to the fluctuation of nutrient resources into the environment. When nutrients are abundant cells activate anabolic pathways, such as