CELL BIOLOGY: Protein Appears to Be Keeper of the Female Germ Line
To become a fully viable egg, oocytes must divide twice, and yet they essentially stop all activity before the first division. Most will remain in this state of suspended animation for decades, during which they are highly susceptible to DNA damage through radiation. Researchers have suspected that during this period of meiotic arrest, egg cells must have some way of detecting and, possibly, repairing or eliminating cells with damaged DNA. Other cells depend on the famous protein p53. It turns out that in oocytes, the job is carried out by a closely related protein, p63. These findings, reported by (clockwise from left) Arminia Kettenbach, Christopher Crum, Eun-Kyung Suh, Frank McKeon, and colleagues in the Nov. 30 Nature, could pave the way to a new understanding and, perhaps, treatment of some forms of infertility.

CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH: Precursor Pinpointed that Generates Heart Cells
Two new studies fuel hope that scientists may one day be able to identify stemlike cardiac cells in humans for patching or replacing damaged heart tissue. The independent studies, appearing in the Dec. 15 Cell, were conducted in the labs of Kenneth Chien (pictured) and Stuart Orkin. The teams report that a single type of “master” cell in developing mice can morph into the two or three major kinds of heart cell—cardiac myocytes, smooth muscle cells, and, in one study, endothelial cells.

ONCOLOGY: Basis of Action Found for Anti-inflammatories’ Anticancer Role
A growing number of epidemiological studies show that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs protect against a variety of cancers, including prostate, breast, and ovarian. But exactly how these drugs keep cancer cells in check is unclear. In the December Cancer Research, Towia Libermann (right), Luiz Zerbini, and colleagues report that several of these anti-inflammatories induce expression of interleukin 24 in cultured cancer cells. The interleukin has dual effects on the cells, turning up expression of proteins that stimulate programmed cell death and put a brake on the cell cycle. The findings may help researchers identify anticancer drugs and improve disease therapies.