This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Medicine: Spontaneous recovery following spinal cord injury
Biotechnology: Influenza: New antiviral target
Medicine: Immune amplifiers of lupus
Genetics: Genetic susceptibility to nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Medicine: Prophylactics could control tumours
And finally…Neuroscience: How needles pierce pain
· 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] Medicine: Spontaneous recovery following spinal cord injury
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2160
Spontaneous recovery of motor neuron function in the spinal cord and debilitating muscle spasms are seen following spinal cord injury. A specific subtype of serotonin receptors may contribute to recovery and can be targeted to prevent spasms, suggests a report published online in this week’s Nature Medicine.
Numerous animal studies have confirmed that following spinal cord injury, motor neuron excitability—crucial for movement—can be recovered by stimulating serotonin receptors in the spinal cord through administrating serotonin itself or compounds which activate serotonin receptors.
David Bennett and colleagues found that following spinal cord injury in mice, motor neurons spontaneously regain the ability to support muscle contractions. The findings suggest that a specific subset of neurons may compensate for the lack of serotonin by up-regulating receptors that do not require serotonin for activity, and therefore restoring walking. However, left unabated this also leads to muscle spasms. Bennett and colleagues found that drugs which block continuous activity of these receptors can block muscle spasms in mice and as well as in patients.
Author contact:
David Bennett (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada)
Tel: +1 780 492 1516
E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Biotechnology: New influenza target
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1638
A novel target for killing the influenza A virus is presented in Nature Biotechnology this week. The discovery of this target—a viral protein called nucleoprotein—and of a drug that can inhibit it may lead to the development of therapies for influenza infection.
Because new strains of influenza A virus continue to emerge, some of which may be resistant to current drugs, it is necessary to continue to develop new antiviral therapeutics and strategies. By screening a large library of small molecules, Richard Y Kao and colleagues found that a small molecule called nucleozin can suppress influenza A viral replication in both cell lines and mice. Nucleozin targets the viral protein nucleoprotein. Since the influenza A genome encodes only 11 proteins, the finding that nucleoprotein is druggable may represent a significant addition to the targets available to drug developers. The scientists believe that similar screens may uncover further targets.
Author contact:
Richard Kao (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
Tel: +852 28 199 707
E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Medicine: Immune amplifiers of lupus
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2159
Basophils—immune cells that are activated in allergy and parasitic infections—contribute to the development of lupus, suggests a study published online in this week’s Nature Medicine. The findings support future clinical trials aimed at blocking certain immune cells or antibodies as a therapy for patients with lupus.
Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder. One of the hallmarks of the disease is the formation of antibodies that recognize and attack the body’s own cells, leading in some cases to kidney disease.
Juan Rivera and colleagues found that a certain subset of self-reactive antibodies, IgE, is increased in the blood serum of a mouse model of lupus. The IgE stimulated basophils which supported further production of self-reactive antibodies that can attack the kidney. The scientists found that depletion of basophils or IgE reduced self-reactive antibody formation and protected mice from kidney damage. Similar observations were made in lupus patients, as increased IgE and activation of basophils are associated with the severity of disease and kidney
damage.
Author contact:
Juan Rivera (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 301 496 7592
E-mail: [email protected]
[4] Genetics: Genetic susceptibility to nasopharyngeal carcinoma
DOI: 10.1038/ng.601
Genetic variants associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) are reported in Nature Genetics this week. NPC is a cancer that originates in the uppermost region of the throat and the prevalence is greatly influenced by ethnicity and geography, with the highest prevalence found in East Asia and Africa.
Yi-Xin Zeng and colleagues report a genome-wide association study in a population of 5,090 individuals with NPC and 4,957 healthy controls from southern China. They identified three genetic regions associated with susceptibility to NPC and highlight a potential role for the TGF-beta and JNK signaling pathways in disease pathogenesis. The authors also note common genetic factors with development of leukemia, suggesting there may be some shared mechanism in progression to these two diseases. This theory is also supported by the increased rates of hematological malignancies found in individuals with NPC.
Author contact:
Yi-Xin Zeng (Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China)
Tel: +86 20 8734 3333
E-mail: [email protected]
[5] Medicine: Prophylactics could control tumours
DOI: 10.1038/nm.2161
A prophylactic vaccine that targets alpha-lactalbumin—a protein expressed in most human breast tumours—helps control and prevent tumour growth in mice mammary glands. The findings, published online in this week’s Nature Medicine, may help in eliminating cancer cells while avoiding damage to normal tissue.
Alpha-lactalbumin is only expressed in lactating mammary glands. Vincent Tuohy and colleagues formed a vaccine that targets this specific protein in mice, thus not harming normal mammary tissue that lacks the protein.
These results suggest that prophylactic tumour vaccines that induce immunity to differentiation-specific antigens—such as alpha-lactalbumin—might be a feasible strategy for preventing breast cancer while avoiding damage to healthy tissue.
Author contact:
Vincent Tuohy (Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, US)
Tel: +1 216 445 9684
E-mail: [email protected]
[6] And finally…Neuroscience: How needles pierce pain
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2562
Acupuncture can relieve many kinds of pain, but it remains unclear how it might work, beyond the possibility of a strong placebo effect. A study published online in Nature Neuroscience now shows that acupuncture locally activates pain-suppressing receptors which could be the key to the treatment’s ability to relieve pain.
Maiken Nedergaard and colleagues inserted fine needles into the mouse equivalent of a traditional acupuncture point near the knee, and rotated these needles intermittently as is practiced by acupuncturists. This alleviated the pain reactions of mice with an inflamed paw, and it also strongly increased the local tissue concentration of the neurotransmitter adenosine. Pain relief required the presence of a particular adenosine receptor. It is known that this receptor resides on pain-transmitting nerve fibers and can reduce the activity of these fibers. The authors found that no pain relief or adenosine elevation was observed when the needles were simply inserted into the acupuncture point without rotation. They also noted that a drug that prolongs the lifetime of adenosine in live tissue helped to prolong the pain-attenuating effect of mouse acupuncture.
It should be noted that while this work suggests a mechanism for local pain relief by acupuncture, it does not in any way endorse the ancient mystical idea that the needles work by correcting some aberrant “qi” energy flow along “meridians”. Instead, the authors propose a model whereby the minor tissue injury caused by rotated needles triggers adenosine release, which, if close enough to pain-transmitting nerves, can lead to the suppression of local pain.
Author contact:
Maiken Nedergaard (University of Rochester Medical Center, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 585 273 2868
E-mail: [email protected]
*************************************************
Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
NATURE
[7] Principles of stop codon reading on the ribosome
DOI: 10.1038/nature09082
[8] Relationship between nucleosome positioning and DNA methylation
DOI: 10.1038/nature09147
[9] Phenotypic robustness conferred by apparently redundant transcriptional enhancers
DOI: 10.1038/nature 09158
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY
[10] Long-term self-renewal of human pluripotent stem cells on human recombinant laminin-511
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1620
[11] Synthetic peptide-acrylate surfaces for long-term self-renewal and cardiomyocyte differentiation of human embryonic stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1629
[12] Synthetic polymer coatings for long-term growth of human embryonic stem cells
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.1631
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
[13] A predictive model for drug bioaccumulation and bioactivity in Caenorhabditis elegans
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.380
[14] Structural basis of G protein-coupled receptor/G protein interactions
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.385
[15] Membrane targeting mechanism of Rab GTPases elucidated by semisynthetic protein probes
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.386
NATURE CHEMISTRY
[16] Monodisperse cylindrical micelles by crystallization-driven living self-assembly
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.664
[17] From silicon(II)-based dioxygen activation to adducts of elusive dioxasiliranes and sila-ureas stable at room temperature
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.666
[18] Photoreactivity examined through incorporation in metal–organic frameworks
DOI: 10.1038/nchem.681
NATURE GENETICS
[19] Mutations in TMEM216 perturb ciliogenesis and cause Joubert, Meckel and related syndromes
DOI: 10.1038/ng.594
[20] Lin28a transgenic mice manifest size and puberty phenotypes identified in human genetic association studies
DOI: 10.1038/ng.593
NATURE IMMUNOLOGY
[21] Semaphorins guide the entry of dendritic cells into the lymphatics by activating myosin II
DOI: 10.1038/ni.1885
NATURE MATERIALS
[22] Observation of shell effects in superconducting nanoparticles of Sn
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2768
23] Surface nano-architecture of a metal–organic framework
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2769
[24] Tunable multifunctional topological insulators in ternary Heusler compounds
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2770
[25] Half-Heusler ternary compounds as new multifunctional platforms for topological quantum phenomena
DOI: 10.1038/nmat2771
NATURE METHODS
[26] Probabilistic density maps to study global endomembrane organization
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1462
[27] Enhanced neuronal RNAi in C. elegans using SID-1
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1463
[28] Estimating prion concentration in fluids and tissues by quantitative PMCA
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1465
[29] cnvHap: An integrative population and haplotype-based multi-platform model of SNPs and CNVs
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1466
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
[30] Graphene transistors
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.89
[31] Spontaneous high-concentration dispersions and liquid crystals of graphene
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.86
[32] DNA computing circuits using libraries of DNAzyme subunits
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.88
[33] Mimicking the colourful wing scale structure of the Papilio blumei butterfly
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.101
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
[34] Fragile X mental retardation protein controls gating of the sodium-activated potassium channel Slack
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2563
[35] More GABA, less distraction: A neurochemical predictor of motor decision speed
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2559
[36] Asymmetric endocytosis and remodeling of beta1-integrin adhesions during chemorepulsion of nerve growth cones by myelin-associated glycoprotein
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2554
[37] Target-selective GABAergic control of entorhinal cortex output
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2570
[38] Specific roles for DEG/ENaC and TRP channels in touch and thermosensation in C. elegans nociceptors
DOI: 10.1038/nn.2581
NATURE PHOTONICS
[39] Net optical gain in a plasmonic waveguide embedded in a fluorescent polymer
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.121
[40] Experimental demonstration of a heralded entanglement source
DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2010.123
NATURE PHYSICS
[41] Interacting electrons in one dimension beyond the
Luttinger-liquid limit
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1678
[42] Thermalization of a two-dimensional photonic gas in a ‘white wall’ photon box
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1680
[43] A quantum spin transducer based on nanoelectromechanical resonator arrays
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1679
[44] Transference of transport anisotropy to composite fermions
DOI: 10.1038/nphys1684
NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
[45] DYRK1B-dependent shift of Hedgehog signaling from an autocrine toward a paracrine mode by mutant RAS
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1833
[46] Precise mapping of subunits in multiprotein complexes by a versatile electron microscopy label
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1811
[47] Structure determination of the seven-helix transmembrane receptor sensory rhodopsin II by solution NMR spectroscopy
DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.1807
*************************************************
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
Brisbane: 15
AUSTRIA
Innsbruck: 43
BELGIUM
Liege: 32
BRAZIL
Sao Paulo: 12
CANADA:
Edmonton: 1
Montreal: 29
Toronto: 13, 16, 20
Vancouver: 2
CHILE
Santiago: 27
CHINA
Anhui: 40
Beijing: 4, 28
Guangzhou: 4
Hong Kong: 2
FRANCE
Lille: 29
Paris: 3, 19, 26
Saint Germain en Laye: 19
Toulouse: 9
GERMANY
Berlin: 17, 41
Bochum: 8
Bonn: 42
Cologne: 8, 39
Darmstadt: 24
Dortmund: 15
Heidelberg: 8, 40, 46
Ilmenau: 30
Jena: 39
Mainz: 24
Marburg: 45
Neuherberg: 21
Regensburg: 22
Stuttgart: 22
Wurzburg: 17
ICELAND
Reykjavik: 39
IRELAND
Galway: 36
ISRAEL
Afula: 19
Haifa: 31
Holon: 19
Jerusalem: 32, 38
Ramat-Gan: 19
Rehovot: 41
Tel Aviv: 19
ITALY
Messina: 19
Rome: 19
Rotondo: 19
JAPAN
Fukuoka: 23
Hyogo: 23
Kanagawa: 23
Kyoto: 23
Nishinomiya: 21
Osaka: 1, 23
Sapporo: 21
Suita: 21
Tokyo: 23
Wako: 21
OMAN
Muscat: 19
PORTUGAL
Lisbon: 22
SINGAPORE
Singapore: 4
SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg: 19
SOUTH KOREA
Seoul: 38
SPAIN
Madrid: 22, 45
SWEDEN
Huddinge: 45
Stockholm: 10
Uppsala: 7
SWITZERLAND
Lausanne: 22
Zurich: 19
TAIWAN
Tainan: 40
UNITED KINGDOM
Bristol: 16
Cambridge: 33, 38, 47
Cardiff: 19, 35
Didcot: 18
Edinburgh: 13, 46
Exeter: 33
Leeds: 19
London: 29
Nottingham: 18
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Irvine: 37
La Jolla: 38
Los Angeles: 8
Menlo Park: 11
Riverside: 13
San Diego: 19
San Francisco: 21
San Juan Capistrano: 19
Santa Barbara: 24
Stanford: 21, 24
Connecticut
New Haven: 5, 34, 41, 43
Georgia
Athens: 8
Illinois
Chicago: 1
Maryland
Baltimore: 35
Bethesda: 3, 6, 14
Massachusetts
Boston: 6, 10, 20, 25, 39
Cambridge: 19, 20, 41, 43
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 12, 19
Minnesota
Rochester: 36
New Jersey
Murray Hill: 41
Piscataway: 38
Princeton: 9, 25, 44
New York
Corning: 11
New York: 27
Rochester: 6
North Carolina
Durham: 19
Ohio
Cincinnati: 21
Cleveland: 5
Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr: 9
Malvern: 27
Tennessee
Nashville: 38
Texas
Houston: 28, 31
Lubbock: 31
Utah
Salt Lake City: 4
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)
Michael Francisco
Tel: +1 212 726 9288
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Sowmya Swaminathan
Tel: +44 20 7843 4656
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Sarah Daniels
Tel: +1 617 475 9241
E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemistry (London)
Stuart Cantrill
Tel: +44 20 7014 4018
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 Materials (London)
Vincent Dusastre
Tel: +44 20 7843 4531
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)
Sabbi Lall
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.
