NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 23 August 2009
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Nanotechnology: Silence, please!
Medicine: Misbehaved bacteria
Geoscience: Agents of erosion
Medicine: Fighting fibrosis
Medicine: Cilia’s dual role in cancer
Chemical Biology: A new signalling pathway
And finally…Geoscience: Upwards lightning
· 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.
Warning: This document, and the Nature journal papers to which it refers, may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information contained in this document, or in advance copies of a Nature journal’s content, may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
PICTURES: To obtain artwork from any of the journals, you must first obtain permission from the copyright holder (if named) or author of the research paper in question (if not).
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/.
HYPE: We take great care not to hype the papers mentioned on our press releases, but are sometimes accused of doing so. If you ever consider that a story has been hyped, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected], citing the specific example.
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] Nanotechnology: Silence, please!
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.202
A new formulation of magnetic nanoparticles used to deliver nucleic acids that slow tumour progression in mice is reported online in Nature Nanotechnology this week. Cancer gene silencing RNA delivered using these nanoparticles showed better anti-tumour effects than when delivered using commercially available nanoparticles. This formulation is expected to be an effective gene-delivery system for treating a variety of cancers.
The success of cancer gene therapy relies on effective delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) to the specific genes that cause disease, in order to switch them off. Yoshihisa Namiki and colleagues injected magnetic nanoparticles carrying an optimized sequence of siRNA into the bloodstream of mice. They then guided the siRNA-carrying nanoparticles to the tumour using magnets that were either glued on or implanted under the skin near the tumour. The siRNA – which was designed to silence the expression of a particular gene in the blood vessels of tumours – reached its destination and stopped the growth of tumour blood vessels after an optimized dose of eight injections. The team showed that tumour growth decreased without any adverse immune reaction or side effects and further analysis confirmed that the gene-silencing effects were due to RNA interference.
The authors believe that this new formulation – which showed better anti-tumour effects than the magnetic nanoparticles available at present – could be a robust gene-delivery system for a variety of cancer gene therapy applications.
Author contact:
Yoshihisa Namiki (The Jikei University School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan)
Tel: +81 4 7164 1111 (ex. 6619); E-mail: [email protected]
Christian Plank (Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany) News & Views Author
Tel: + 49 89 4140 4453; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Medicine: Misbehaved bacteria
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2015
Some bacteria in the intestinal flora can cause colon cancer, and a study in this week’s Nature Medicine discloses a molecular mechanism for this undesirable effect.
Cynthia Sears and her colleagues explored how intestinal colonization by enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF) can lead to colon cancer. The group found that, whereas both ETBF and nontoxigenic B. fragilis (NTBF) can colonize the guts of mice, only ETBF triggers colonic inflammation and tumors. These symptoms are associated with increased cellular signaling by interleukin-17 (IL-17). Crucially, blocking signaling mediated by IL-17 or IL-23, a cytokine that amplifies IL-17 responses, prevented ETBF-induced inflammation and tumor formation.
These findings reveal an IL-17-dependent pathway for inflammation-induced cancer by a common intestinal bacterium. This provides new insight into the mechanism of human colon cancer and opens new therapeutic avenues to be explored.
Author contact:
Cynthia Sears (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 410 614 0141; E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Geoscience: Agents of erosion
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo616
Rivers and glaciers erode the landscape at similar rates, according to a study published online in Nature Geoscience. Previous studies held that glaciers eroded the Earth’s surface at a faster rate.
Michele Koppes and David Montgomery compiled data on rates of erosion from rivers and glaciers around the world. They found that once they accounted for differences in the relative areas covered by glacial catchments and river basins, the amount of the surface eroded by glaciers and rivers fell into the same range — from less than 1 to over 10 mm per year. The authors also report that the highest rates of erosion were found to occur in landscapes that have recently been disturbed, either through volcanic eruptions or the rapid retreat of glaciers along the coast.
The high end of erosion rates from rivers and glaciers is comparable to the rates of erosion reported from agricultural lands, suggesting that farming has a substantial impact on the landscape.
Author contact:
Michele Koppes (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)
Tel: +1 206 409 7968; E-mail: [email protected]
[4] Medicine: Fighting fibrosis
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2005
A potential new target for drugs aiming to treat lung fibrosis is reported in this week’s Nature Medicine.
NADPH oxidases (NOX) are enzymes that catalyze the production of free radicals. The free radicals may have beneficial effects, such as fighting pathogens, or deleterious consequences, such as triggering cell death.
Victor Thannickal and his colleagues report a role for one type of NOX – called NOX-4 – in lung fibrosis. They found that NOX-4 is necessary for the generation of hydrogen peroxide, which triggers myofibroblast differentiation and extracellular matrix production, both hallmarks of fibrosis. NOX-4 is up-regulated in the lungs of patients with lung fibrosis. Moreover, genetic and pharmacologic targeting of NOX-4 prevented fibrosis in two mouse models of this disease.
These findings support a role for NOX-4 in tissue fibrosis and provide a starting point for therapeutic targeting of NOX-4 in lung fibrosis, a disease for which there is no available treatment.
Author contact:
Victor Thannickal (University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL, USA)
Tel: +1 205 934 0892; E-mail: [email protected]
[5] & [6] Medicine: Cilia’s dual role in cancer
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2011
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2020
Cilia can promote or suppress tumor growth, depending on the nature of the tumor-initiating event, as reported by two studies in this week’s Nature Medicine.
Primary cilia are specialized appendages that extend from the surface of many cell types and have been implicated in cell signaling. They are crucial during fetal development for signaling pathways mediated by a protein known as Hedgehog. As Hedgehog has also been implicated in cancers, Jeremy Reiter, Arturo Alvarez-Buylla and their respective colleagues explored the possible contribution of primary cilia to tumor formation.
Studying two types of cancer, basal cell carcinoma and medulloblastoma, the two groups independently found that cilia could favor or inhibit tumor formation in mice. If the tumor was triggered by the expression of Smoothened, a well-known activator of Hedgehog, removal of cilia blocked tumor formation. But if the tumor was initiated by the expression of Gli2, a molecule downstream of Hedgehog, then removal of cilia accelerated tumor growth.
These data disclose an unexpected dual role of cilia on cancer. Further analysis of their role may lead to better understanding of tumor development and treatment.
Author contacts:
Jeremy Reiter (University of California San Francisco, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 415 502 8528; E-mail: [email protected]
Arturo Alvarez-Buylla (University of California San Francisco, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 415 514 2348; E-mail: [email protected]
[7] Chemical Biology: A new signalling pathway
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.206
A new pathway for cellular signaling is reported online in this week’s Nature Chemical Biology. This report should have a major impact on understanding the how the largest class of drugs target the body’s cells.
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a class of proteins found on the cell membrane that are responsible for most of the communication between the outside and inside of the cell. It was thought that these receptors were only active on the cell surface, and would only enter a cell to be degraded and replaced by new GPCRs.
Jean-Pierre Vilardaga and colleagues now show that signaling of the one GPCR – the parathyroid hormone – can continue even when the protein moves into the cell. When this GPCR is bound to one of its ligands, the parathyroid hormone, it continues to send signals, even from the inside of the cell, thus making the overall signal last longer. This behavior does not happen when the receptor binds a different ligand, the parathyroid hormone-related peptide.
This unexpected behavior of GPCR signaling will require a change in how scientists think about cellular signaling, and may impact how we study drugs that target these important receptors.
Author contact:
Jean-Pierre Vilardaga (University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 412 320 6166: E-mail: [email protected]
[8] Geoscience: Upwards lightning
DOI: 10.1038/ngeo607
Lightning strokes that extend upwards from the top of thunderclouds up to altitudes of 90 km can be of similar strength in terms of charge transfer as cloud-to-ground lightning strokes, suggests a study published online this week in Nature Geoscience. The lightening strokes, known as gigantic jets, are the clearest evidence of direct electrical coupling between thunderstorms and the highest layers of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Steven Cummer and colleagues combined low-light video images with simultaneous low-frequency magnetic field measurements of a gigantic jet to estimate the charge transfer and polarity in the gigantic jet. The measurements confirm a negative polarity for the jet, and the researchers conclude that the charge transfer in gigantic jets can be substantially larger than observed previously.
Author contact:
Steven Cummer (Duke University, Durham, NC, USA)
Tel: +1 919 660 5256; E-mail: [email protected]
********************************************************************************
Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature)
[9] Co-translational mRNA decay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
DOI: 10.1038/nature08265
[10] An RNA-dependent RNA polymerase formed by TERT and the RMRP RNA
DOI: 10.1038/nature08283
[11] Structure of a tetrameric MscL in an expanded intermediate state
DOI: 10.1038/nature08277
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[12] Systemic administration of optimized aptamer-siRNA chimeras promotes regression of PSMA-expressing tumors
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1560
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[13] Golgi-derived CLASP-dependent microtubules control Golgi organization and polarized trafficking in motile cells
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1920
[14] Axin determines cell fate by controlling the p53 activation threshold after DNA damage
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1927
[15] p53 isoforms d133p53 and p53b are endogenous regulators of replicative cellular senescence
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1928
[16] Zcchc11-dependent uridylation of microRNA directs cytokine expression
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1931
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[17] Redesigning dehalogenase access tunnels as a strategy for degrading an anthropogenic substrate
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.205
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[18] Cell-specific protein phenotypes for the autoimmune locus IL2RA using a genotype-selectable bioresource
DOI: 10.1038/ng.434
[19] Posterior malformations in Dact1 mutant mice arise through misregulated Vangl2 at the primitive streak
DOI: 10.1038/ng.435
[20] Genomic privacy and limits of individual detection in a pool
DOI: 10.1038/ng.436
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[21] Activation of innate immune antiviral responses by Nod2
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1782
[22] The cunning little vixen: Foxo and the cycle of life and death
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1784
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[23] Arrested maturation of excitatory synapses in autosomal dominant lateral temporal lobe epilepsy
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2019
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/nmeth)
[24] ErythRED, a hESC line enabling identification of erythroid cells
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1364
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[25] Golden carbon nanotubes as multimodal photoacoustic and photothermal high-contrast molecular agents
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.231
[26] Single-crystal germanium layers grown on silicon by nanowire seeding
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.233
[27] Catalyst preparation for CMOS-compatible silicon nanowire synthesis
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2009.234
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[28] Wnt-mediated activation of NeuroD1 and retro-elements during adult neurogenesis
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2360
[29] Neurod1 is essential for the survival and maturation of adult-born neurons
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2385
NATURE PHOTONICS (http://www.nature.com/nphoton)
[30] Radiative heat transfer at the nanoscale
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2009.144
[31] Structural colour printing using a magnetically tunable and lithographically fixable photonic crystal
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2009.141
[32] Optical cleaning of congruent lithium niobate crystals
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2009.142
[33] Ultralong quantum optical data storage using an optical locking technique
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2009.143
[34] Single-shot terahertz-field-driven X-ray streak camera
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2009.160
Nature PHYSICS (http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[35] Inertia-driven spin switching in antiferromagnets
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1369
[36] Computational complexity of interacting electrons and fundamental limitations of density functional theory
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1370
[37] Experimental four-qubit bound entanglement
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1372
Nature STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natstructmolbiol)
[38] Dynamics and function of compact nucleosome arrays
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1650
[39] Fast ribozyme cleavage releases transcripts from RNA polymerase II and aborts co-transcriptional pre-mRNA processing
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1652
[40] Template strand crunching during DNA gap repair synthesis by human polymerase lambda
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1654
*********************************************************************************
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
Victoria: 24
AUSTRIA
Vienna: 36
CANADA:
Ontario: 29
Vancouver: 3
CHINA
Fujian: 14
CZECH REPUBLIC
Brno: 15, 17
Olomouc: 17
FRANCE
Chatenay-Malabry: 30
Grenoble: 27, 30
Palaiseau: 30
GERMANY
Berlin: 34
Bonn: 32
Garching: 36
Goettingen: 29
Hamburg: 34
Heidelberg: 17
Munich: 28
ISRAEL
Tel-Aviv: 20
JAPAN
Chiba: 1
Hyogo: 28
Ikoma: 28
Saitama: 10
Sendai: 17
Tokyo: 10, 30
Tsukuba: 28
Yokohama: 10
KOREA
Seoul: 31
NETHERLANDS
Nijmegen: 35
PORTUGAL
Porto: 13
RUSSIA
Moscow: 25
Novosibirsk: 32
Petersburg: 35
Saratov: 25
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 15
SOUTH KOREA
Incheon: 33
SWEDEN
Stockholm: 37, 39
SWITZERLAND
Zurich: 34
TAIWAN
Taoyuan: 2
UKRAINE
Kiev: 35
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 18
Dundee: 15
Durham: 8
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Alabama
Birmingham: 4
Arkansas
Fayetteville: 25
Little Rock: 25
California
Berkeley: 20
La Jolla: 16, 22, 28
Los Angeles: 2
Oakland: 5
Pasadena: 11
Riverside: 31
San Diego: 28
San Francisco: 5, 6, 19
Stanford: 26
Colorado
Aurora: 39
Fort Collins: 8
Illinois
Evanston: 38
Chicago: 2
Iowa
Iowa City: 12
Maryland
Baltimore: 2
Bethesda: 15
Massachusetts
Boston: 7, 10, 16, 23
Cambridge: 10, 16
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 4, 5, 6
New York
Stony Brook: 40
North Carolina
Chapel Hill: 40
Ohio
Cleveland: 9
Columbus: 38
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh: 7
Tennessee
Memphis: 6
Nashville: 13
Texas
Dallas: 28, 29
San Antonio: 21
Washington
Seattle: 3, 19
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]
Neda Afsarmanesh (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 Biotechnology (New York)
Craig Mak
Tel: +1 212 726 9284; E-mail: [email protected]
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)
Myles Axton
Tel: +1 212 726 9324; 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 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)
Kalyani Narasimhan
Tel: +1 212 726 9319; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Photonics (Tokyo)
Oliver Graydon
Tel: +81 3 3267 8776; 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]
About Nature Publishing Group (NPG):
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.
Focusing on the needs of scientists, Nature (founded in 1869) is the leading weekly, international scientific journal. In addition, for this audience, NPG publishes a range of Nature research journals and Nature Reviews journals, plus a range of prestigious academic journals including society-owned publications. Online, nature.com provides over 5 million visitors per month with access to NPG publications and online databases and services, including Nature News and NatureJobs plus access to Nature Network and Nature Education’s Scitable.com.
Scientific American is at the heart of NPG’s newly-formed consumer media division, meeting the needs of the general public. Founded in 1845, Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the US and the leading authoritative publication for science in the general media. Together with scientificamerican.com and 15 local language editions around the world it reaches over 3 million consumers and scientists. Other titles include Scientific American Mind and Spektrum der Wissenschaft in Germany.
Throughout all its businesses NPG is dedicated to serving the scientific and medical communities and the wider scientifically interested general public. Part of Macmillan Publishers Limited, NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York and Tokyo, and offices in cities worldwide including Boston, Buenos Aires, Delhi, Hong Kong, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Heidelberg, Basingstoke, Melbourne, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul and Washington DC. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.
