Since its founding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the scientists of the All of Us Research Program have set the goal to analyze the largest diversity of the genomic population in the country and end the under-representation of its different groups. The project has expanded the vision of several pathologies, discovered thousands of new genetic variants, redefined the risk genes for common diseases, and stratified them, uncovering eight different forms in the case of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Their results create a pathway for a new age of precision medicine.
Alanine-serine-cysteine transporter 2 (ASCT2) is a glutamine (Gln) transporter that is required for cell proliferation and is overexpressed in tumors such as non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Researchers from China Pharmaceutical University have reported on the discovery and preclinical characterization of a novel series of ASCT2 inhibitors that led to the identification two lead compounds.
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Harvard University have published details on the chemical synthesis and microbiological evaluation of a ribosome-binding antibiotic – cresomycin (CRM) – that was able to overcome antimicrobial resistance of major pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and others.
Immunoglobulin G (IgG), an antibody that participates in the response to infection, could have a specific role in metabolism. During aging, it accumulates in certain tissues inducing metabolic dysfunction and fibrosis of fat tissue. This effect could be prevented through an intracellular receptor that contributes to the delivery of IgG. A team of researchers from Columbia University and Peking University (PKU) demonstrated that reducing excess IgG improved the metabolic health of aged mice and increased their life expectancy.
Autoantibodies call to mind disease – autoimmune disease, to be exact. But the physiological roles of autoantibodies are, at the very least, more complex than this view accounts for. “The autoantibody reactome is extraordinary,” Aaron Ring told BioWorld. “Nearly everyone has autoantibodies, whether they know it or not.”