NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 08 June 2008
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Neuroscience: Helping seizures with acidity
Medicine: A drug against blood cancer may also fight lupus
Immunology: Zipping to sites of infection
· Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
· Geographical listing of authors
PDFs of all the papers mentioned on this release can be found in the relevant journal’s section of http://press.nature.com. Press contacts for the Nature journals are listed at the end of this release.
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NOTE: Once a paper is published, the digital object identifier (DOI) number can be used to retrieve the abstract and full text from the journal web site (abstracts are available to everyone, full text is available only to subscribers). To do this, add the DOI to the following URL: http://dx.doi.org/ (For example, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng730). For more information about DOIs and Advance Online Publication, see http://www.nature.com/ng/aop/.
PLEASE CITE THE SPECIFIC NATURE JOURNAL AND WEBSITE AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO THE APPROPRIATE JOURNAL’S WEBSITE.
[1] Neuroscience: Helping seizures with acidity
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2132
Activation of certain acid-sensing molecules in the brain can interrupt severe seizures associated with epilepsy, reports a study published online in Nature Neuroscience this week. This could aid in the development of drugs to target epilepsy, a condition that can often be very difficult to treat.
Epileptic seizures can be interrupted by breathing air with elevated levels of carbon dioxide. This additional carbon dioxide acidifies the brain, but it is not yet known how increased acidity stops the increased firing of nerve cells that causes a seizure. John Wemmie and colleagues suggest that a class of acid-sensitive channels in nerve cell membranes, the ASIC channels, might be involved.
To test their hypothesis, the scientists induced seizures in mice lacking the channel molecule ASIC1a. These mice suffered more severe convulsions and died more often from seizures than normal mice treated the same way. While carbon dioxide inhalation helped stop seizures in normal mice, it had no effect on seizures in mice lacking ASIC1a. The scientists also observed that inhibitory nerve cells were particularly enriched for ASIC1a, and were strongly activated in an acidic environment.
These results might explain how acidity stops seizures, and suggest that ASIC1a might be a promising target for epilepsy drug development.
Author contact:
John Wemmie (University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA)
Tel: +1 319 335 7574; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Medicine: A drug against blood cancer may also fight lupus
DOI: 10.1038/nm1763
A drug used to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of the white blood cells, could also be useful for the treatment of the chronic autoimmune disease lupus erythematosus. A study published this online week in Nature Medicine suggests that this may lead to new treatment strategies for other antibody-mediated diseases.
Diseases like myasthenia gravis and systemic lupus are caused by autoantibodies produced by long-lived immune cells that show very high rates of protein generation. As myeloma cells respond to treatment with proteasome inhibitors, and their sensitivity correlates with their rates of protein synthesis, Reinhard Voll and his colleagues suggest that, in mice with lupus-like disease, those inhibitors would have a similar effect on the autoantibody-producing cells.
Using two mouse strains with ‘lupus’ they show that the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib — a drug approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma — blocks autoantibody production and prolongs survival of the mice. So, the elimination of autoreactive plasma cells by proteasome inhibitors might represent a new treatment strategy for antibody-associated diseases.
Author contact:
Reinhard Voll (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany)
Tel. +49 9131 853 9301; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Immunology: Zipping to sites of infection
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1623
The way in which immune cells focus in on invading bacteria within infected tissues is reported online this week in Nature Immunology. The study describes a series of chemical signposts that direct neutrophils, the first responders in an immune response, to the site of infection.
Like other immune cells, neutrophils express surface receptors that sense chemical trafficking signals from damaged tissues or released by the bacteria. Activation of these receptors triggers formation of fatty molecules called PIP3, which lead to changes in the cell structure and directional movement. As the neutrophils enter infected tissues they can be surrounded by chemical signals, thus prompting a decision process for ‘which way to go’.
Paul Kubes and colleagues show neutrophils prioritize such directional signals via an intracellular enzyme called PTEN. Surface receptors that sense the bacterial signalling compounds activate PTEN, which takes control by removing phosphates from PIP3. By doing so, neutrophils ignore the previous chemical signals that guided them into the tissues and move instead towards their bacterial targets.
These results help explain how neutrophils can efficiently migrate to sites of infection.
Author contact:
Paul Kubes (University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Tel: +1 403 220 8558; E-mail: [email protected]
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature)
[4] Volcanic carbon dioxide vents show ecosystem effects of ocean acidification
DOI: 10.1038/nature07051
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[5] Control of HIPK2 stability by ubiquitin ligase Siah-1 and checkpoint kinase ATM/ATR
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1743
[6] Spindle-localized CPE-mediated translation controls meiotic chromosome segregation
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1746
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[7] A Gata6-Wnt pathway required for epithelial stem cell development and airway regeneration
DOI: 10.1038/ng.157
[8] Bmi1 is expressed in vivo in intestinal stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/ng.165
[9] Ras-MAPK signaling promotes trophectoderm formation from embryonic stem cells and mouse embryos
DOI: 10.1038/ng.173
NATURE GEOSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/ngeo)
[10] Subcontinental lithospheric mantle origin of high niobium / tantalum ratios in eclogites
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo226
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[11] Initiation of allelic exclusion by stochastic interaction of Tcrb alleles with repressive nuclear compartments
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1624
[12] Structure of and influence of a tick complement inhibitor on human complement component 5
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1625
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[13] Sidewall oxide effects on spin-torque- and magnetic-field-induced reversal characteristics of thin-film nanomagnets
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2204
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[14] TRPM2-mediated Ca2+ influx induces chemokine production in monocytes that aggravates inflammatory neutrophil infiltration
DOI: 10.1038/nm1758
[15] Molecular imaging of lymphoid organs and immune activation by positron emission tomography with a new [18F]-labeled 2′-deoxycytidine analog
DOI: 10.1038/nm1724
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/nmeth)
[16] Lifeact: a versatile marker to visualize F-actin
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1220
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[17] Tailoring the atomic structure of graphene nanoribbons by scanning tunnelling microscope lithography
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2008.149
[18] Subwavelength direct-write nanopatterning using optically trapped microspheres
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2008.150
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[19] Membrane potential shifts caused by diffusible guidance signals direct growth-cone turning
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2130
[20] Evolutionary expansion and anatomical specialization of synapse proteome complexity
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2135
[21] Absolute requirement of GDNF for adult catecholaminergic neuron survival
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2136
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[22] Spin blockade and lifetime-enhanced transport in a few-electron Si/SiGe double quantum dot
DOI: 10.1038/nphys988
[23] Coherent dynamics of plasma mirrors
DOI: 10.1038/nphys986
[24] Dirac charge dynamics in graphene by infrared spectroscopy
DOI: 10.1038/nphys989
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[25] Molecular mechanism of energy conservation in polysulfide respiration
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1434
[26] Mechanism of lid closure in the eukaryotic chaperonin TRiC/CCT
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1436
[27] Asymmetric bidirectional replication at the human DBF4 origin
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1439
[28] Structure of an O-GlcNAc transferase homolog provides insight into intracellular glycosylation
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1443
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GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS
The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the papers numbered in this release. The listing may be for an author's main affiliation, or for a place where they are working temporarily. Please see the PDF of the paper for full details.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney: 10, 25
BELGIUM
Namur: 17
CANADA:
Burnaby: 28
Calgary: 3
Edmonton: 10
Ottawa: 27
Sudbury: 27
DENMARK
Aarhus: 12
FRANCE
Gif-sur-Yvette: 23
Illkirch: 12
Palaiseau: 23
Villefranche-sur-Mer: 4
GERMANY
Berlin: 2
Erlangen: 2
Heidelberg: 5
Martinsried: 16
HUNGARY
Budapest: 17
ISRAEL
Eilat: 4
Ramat-Gan: 4
ITALY
Caserta: 4
Naples: 4
Rome: 4
JAPAN
Hyogo: 25
Kyoto: 14, 25
Okinawa: 20
Tokyo: 14, 25
Yokohama: 25
NETHERLANDS
Twente: 23
SPAIN
Barcelona: 6, 21
Seville: 21
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 20
Edinburgh: 20
London: 25, 26
Norwich: 4
Oxford: 12
Plymouth: 4
Stoke-on-Trent: 20
York: 28
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 24
La Jolla: 12, 24
Los Angeles: 15
Pleasanton: 26
San Francisco: 16, 26
San Jose: 13
Stanford: 26
Florida
Tallahassee: 24
Hawaii
Honolulu: 14
Illinois
Chicago: 11
Iowa
Iowa City: 1
Massachusetts
Boston: 9
Cambridge: 26
New Hampshire
Hanover: 22
New Jersey
Murray Hill: 24
Princeton: 18
New York
Ithaca: 13
New York: 19, 24
North Carolina
Durham: 11
Ohio
Cincinnati: 7
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 7
Texas
Houston: 7, 26
Utah
Salt Lake City: 8
Wisconsin
Madison: 22
PRESS CONTACTS…
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research Journals:
Rachel Twinn (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: [email protected]
Katherine Anderson (Nature New York)
Tel: +1 212 726 9231; E-mail: [email protected]
Ruth Francis (Head of Press, Nature, London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail: [email protected]
For media inquiries relating to editorial content/policy for the Nature Research Journals, please contact the journals individually:
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Andrea Garvey
Tel: +1 617 475 9241, E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Genetics (New York)
Orli Bahcall
Tel: +1 212 726 9311; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Geoscience (London)
Heike Langenberg
Tel: +44 20 7843 4042; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Immunology (New York)
Laurie Dempsey
Tel: +1 212 726 9372; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Materials (London)
Alison Stoddart
Tel: +44 20 7843 4593; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Methods (New York)
Hugh Ash
Tel: +1 212 726 9627; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Nanotechnology (London)
Peter Rodgers
Tel: +44 20 7014 4019; Email: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Physics (London)
Alison Wright
Tel: +44 20 7843 4555; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (New York)
Michelle Montoya
Tel: +1 212 726 9326; E-mail: [email protected]
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