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Targeting Erbin-mitochondria axis in platelets/ megakaryocytes promotes B cell-mediated antitumor immunity
The roles of platelets/megakaryocytes (MKs), the key components in the blood system,in the tumor microenvironment and antitumor immunity are unclear. In patients withcolorectal cancer, the number of platelets was significantly increased in patientswith metastasis, and Erbin expression was highly expressed in platelets from patientswith metastases. Moreover, Erbin knockout in platelets/MKs suppressed lung metastasisin mice and promoted aggregations of platelets. Mechanistically, Erbin-deficient plateletshave increasing mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and secrete lipid metaboliteslike acyl-carnitine (Acar) by abolishing interaction with prothrombotic protein ESAM.Notably, Acar en......
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Frontier research on heart regeneration: challenging traditional concepts and reshaping miracles of injured hearts
For decades the common dogma was that the adult heart is incapable of regenerating lost myocardium after injury. In response to cardiac injury, adult mammals—including humans—fail to regenerate the majority of the lost cardiomyocytes and instead replace necrotic muscle with scar tissue. The loss of cardiomyocytes eventually compromises contractility of the remaining myocardium, leading to heart failure and death when the extent of injury is severe.Achieving cardiac regeneration or stimulating endogenous repair mechanisms to restore cardiac function after injury has been a goal of countless investigators. In the last decade scientists have questioned whether the mature heart truly l......
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Cancer vaccines From theory to practice, ushering in a new era of cancer prevention
When one hears the word “vaccine,” many people think of vaccines against infectious agents, such as viruses and bacteria.The idea of vaccination against cancer has a long history and was initially built on the observation that some tumors spontaneously regress in patients experiencing an acute infection. How a non-specific innate immune response against bacterial products could translate into a specific anti-tumor immune response was explained subsequently by the discovery that dendritic cells (DCs) could acquire immunogenic tumor-derived peptides released during the innate immune response. This led to the hypothesis that use of tumor-derived antigens, if delivered to the immune sy......
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Breakthrough in the Treatment of Burn Wounds: New Strategies Helping Rapid Healing
Burn trauma is an injury that can be caused by heat, electricity, chemical or radiation. Depending on the area affected and the depth of the burn, burn patients can experience a large number of potentially fatal complications, including shock, infection, electrolyte imbalances, and multiple organ failure. Unlike acute wound healing, tendon repair, and intimal healing, the large amount of exudate in burn wounds often leads to persistent inflammation, a high risk of infection, and tissue edema, resulting in a prolonged healing process. Burn patients who have infections are twice as likely to die as those who do not, because an immune system disorder increases a patient's risk of infe......
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Breaking through the limit of light penetration depth, fiber optic therapy brings a revolution in cancer treatment
The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that 20% of people worldwide will develop cancer during their lifetime. Traditional surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are currently used as available clinical approaches for most cancer patients. Due to unavoidable resistance to drugs and radiation, traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy have poor efficacy. As one of the emerging cancer treatment methods using light as the medium, photothermal therapy (PTT), in which nanomaterials absorb energy from photons and dissipate it partially in the form of heat to trigger the death of cancer cells, has attracted significant attention due to its noninvasive nature, high specific......
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Apoptosis releases hydrogen sulfide to inhibit Th17 cell differentiation
Over 50 billion cells undergoapoptosiseach day in an adult human to maintain immunehomeostasis.Hydrogen sulfide(H2S) is also required to safeguard the function of immune response. However, it is unknown whether apoptosis regulates H2S production. Here, we show that apoptosis-deficient MRL/lpr(B6.MRL-Faslpr/J) and Bim−/−(B6.129S1-Bcl2l11tm1.1Ast/J) mice exhibit significantly reduced H2S levels along with aberrant differentiation ofTh17 cells, which can be rescued by the additional H2S. Moreover, apoptotic cells and vesicles (apoVs) express key H2S-generatingenzymesand generate a significant amount of H2S, indicating that apoptotic metabolism is an important source of H2S. Mechanisti......