|
|
|
 IMMUNOLOGY: Priming Cellular Pathway May Lead to New AIDS and Cancer Vaccines
HMS researchers have made a discovery that could turn the immune system's dendritic cells into enhanced vaccine agents against AIDS and cancer. Chester Alper, first author Keith Crawford (l to r), and their colleagues have found a set of signals that activates the dendritic cells to perform their T cell-targeting duties. By priming this pathway, it may be possible to create dendritic cells that more effectively rouse the T cells in a patient's body to attack specific invaders like cancer cells or HIV. The findings appear in Blood online and in an upcoming print version of the journal.
|
 STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY: Image from Epidemic Dengue Virus Reveals Drug Target
A vulnerable pocket in the protein that coats the dengue virus--a deadly, tropical mosquito-borne pathogen--may present a target for screening drug candidates against dengue fever. Revealed in atomic detail in a crystal structure from the lab of Stephen Harrison, the pocket is located near a hinge that may enable the molecule to fold and facilitate infection. If a small-molecule drug filled the pocket and blocked the folding, it might prevent infection. Yorgo Modis, Harrison (l to r), and collaborators report the structure in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, online May 20. Outbreaks of the disease are possible in Texas and the southeastern United States.
|
 PUBLIC HEALTH: Common Industrial Ingredient Appears Able to Stifle Sperm
A study published in the May Epidemiology by Susan Duty and her colleagues finds that phthalates (THAL-ates), chemicals that show up in products from toys to medical devices, may diminish the quality and number of sperm. It may be too soon to pinpoint phthalates as the cause of infertility in individual men, but these and similar data are raising widespread concern in the scientific community.
|
 NEUROLOGY: Alzheimer's Culprit Fingered as Gang of Four
The enzyme known as gamma-secretase, notorious for its purported role in Alzheimer's disease, has eluded identification for years. Now it seems that the protein players responsible for gamma-secretase's activity have been nabbed. A study led by Dennis Selkoe (right) and Michael Wolfe and published in the May 27 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is one of a trio of recent papers all showing that gamma-secretase is really a close-knit gang of four proteins: presenilin, nicastrin, aph-1, and pen-2. Finally identifying this foursome will allow further studies on the role of the enzyme in several cell functions and may point toward better Alzheimer's therapies.
|
Copyright 2003 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
|
|
