IMMUNOLOGY: Aging Helper T Cells Gain New Life as Regulatory Agents
Xin Xiao Zheng (left), Dong Zhang, and colleagues have identified a way to convert helper T cells into regulatory T cells, which take on an entirely new role in the body: rather than facilitate the immune response, they arrest it. Working in mice, the scientists showed, for example, that the converted immune cells protected skin grafts from rejection. Appearing in the Dec. 29, 2006, Blood, the findings raise the intriguing possibility of patients being able to bank their converted T cells in case they need immune suppression sometime in the future.

BIOCHEMISTRY: Small Synthetic Molecule Curbs Cancer Growth
Identified in a novel high-throughput screen, a small synthetic molecule counters cancer progression by inducing cell death, stifling growth, and preventing expression of cancer-causing genes. The scientists, led by Nathan Moerke (left) and Gerhard Wagner, determined that the molecule’s modus operandi is blocking the binding of two “initiation factors,” an interaction necessary for normal translation of most proteins associated with growth and proliferation. Though the small molecule is not potent enough to be a good drug candidate, stronger versions of it might be developed and the screening technique might be used to find more effective initial compounds. The study appears in the Jan. 26 Cell.

HEMATOLOGY: Molecular Trio Essential to Blood Stem Cell Health
Blood and immune cells are so vital that nature has evolved a triple layer of redundancy to ensure their survival. Gary Gilliland (left), Zuzana Tothova, and collaborators found that any one of three FoxO transcription factors is sufficient to sustain the hematopoietic stem cell contingent in mice. But if all three are missing, the cells burn out in an attempt to proliferate. FoxOs appear to maintain stem cells by ensuring that reactive oxygen is kept under control because addition of oxygen scavengers can compensate for their loss. These findings, published in the Jan. 26 Cell, could lead to new ways of prolonging adult tissue stem cells and of reining in some FoxO-deficient leukemias, which are sensitive to oxidative stress.

ONCOLOGY: Angiogenesis Inhibitor Sets Up Deadly Brain Tumors for Therapeutic Blow
A few years ago, Rakesh Jain (pictured) suggested that angiogenesis inhibitors could help other cancer therapies work better by repairing the blood vessels around tumors and making them easier to access with chemotherapy and radiation. A study published in the January Cancer Cell offers supporting evidence for Jain’s predictions. He teamed up with Tracy Batchelor and Gregory Sorensen in a phase II clinical trial of an angiogenesis inhibitor in patients with recurrent brain tumors. The first results offer evidence that angiogenesis inhibitors can, indeed, be used to normalize a tumor’s environment, increasing its vulnerability to other therapies.

TOBACCO CONTROL: Data Show 10-year Rise in Cigarette Nicotine
Cigarette smoke delivers more nicotine every year, says a statistical review of a decade of data reported by tobacco companies to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Certain design changes in the cigarette—higher concentration of the drug and more puffs per cigarette, appear to be causing the upswing in nicotine delivered, according to Gregory Connolly (left), Howard Koh, and colleagues in the HSPH Tobacco Control Research Program.