ONCOLOGY: Tumor’s Molecular Missile Blunts Body’s Defense
A team of researchers has uncovered a strategy by which Hodgkin cancer cells take over the body’s natural defenders. The cells release a protein that sends a death signal to certain immune cells, undermining the immune response to the tumor. Appearing in the Aug. 7 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study suggests a therapeutic approach based on antibodies that may restore the immune forces and speed effective treatment. The approach also could be used for diagnosis. The research team includes (from left) Jing Ouyang, Margaret Shipp, and Przemyslaw Juszczynski.

IMMUNOLOGY: Signal Gives Green Light to Immune Forces
In a recent trilogy of papers, most recently in the July 26 Nature, (clockwise from top right) Vijay Kuchroo, Estelle Bettelli, Mohamed Oukka, Thomas Korn, and colleagues have found that the immune system protein interleukin-6 serves as a sensitive toggle between the body’s status quo and immune defense. Their work illustrates the reciprocal relationship between two types of immune cell, regulatory T cells and effectors known as Th17 cells. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a cytokine produced upon infection, determines the fate of these two cell types. So crucial is IL-6’s immunologic role that a “backup plan” exists in case the cytokine is absent.

METABOLISM: Therapeutic Link Made Between Type 1 and 2 Diabetes
Reversing the autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing cells in type 1 diabetes may not be enough to cure the disorder, suggests a study in mice from the labs of Maria Koulmanda (left), Terry Strom, and their colleagues. The researchers found—and unwittingly treated—a kind of insulin resistance in fat and muscle normally associated with type 2 diabetes. No one knows if the same condition exists in people with type 1 diabetes, but the insights may lead to better therapies for both diseases. The findings appear in the Aug. 7 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.