SYSTEMS BIOLOGY: Proteasome Recognized as Nuclear Player on Gene-transcription Team
One of the most common agents in the cytoplasm of the cell, the proteasome, also plays a widespread and critical role in transcription from inside the cell nucleus. Pam Silver (left), Kathryn Auld, and their colleagues report in the March 17 Molecular Cell that the proteasome binds and critically regulates the transcription of some of the most highly expressed and important genes in the yeast genome, including those involved in lipid metabolism, mating behavior, and the making of ribosomal proteins. “We found the proteasome to be very important in so many roles in yeast transcription that I cannot imagine it is not important in other organisms,” Auld said.

PHARMACOLOGY: Sense of Security May Be False with Tried and True Anti-inflammatories
For all the tender joints and headaches they relieve and colon cancer they may prevent, the older nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) raise another serious health risk. The highly publicized danger of heart attacks and other cardiovascular side effects first discovered in randomized controlled trials of newer, selective NSAIDs is being found in the older agents too. A large prospective analysis from the Nurses’ Health Study found elevated cardiovascular risk for daily and high doses of ibuprofen and naproxen, as well as acetaminophen, but not aspirin. Occasional use of the drugs, however, did not seem to pose any extra risk, said Andrew Chan (left), Charles Fuchs, and their co-authors in the March 28 Circulation.

IMMUNOLOGY: Discovery of Calcium Channel Protein Illuminates T Cell Signaling
A rare genetic defect in a family has helped researchers identify a key signaling component in T cells. The newly identified protein, Orai1, may be a piece of a long-sought calcium channel in T cells that is critical for lymphocyte function. When two siblings inherited two copies of a mutant form of Orai1, it caused a severe impairment of their immune systems. Now, more than a decade after their case was reported, Yousang Gwack (left) and Stefan Feske in Anjana Rao’s lab have found the protein responsible for the disease. Their findings appear in the April 2 Nature.