JCI early table of contents for Sept. 9, 2013

(Press-News.org) Study identifies fibroblast growth factor 18 as an ovarian cancer biomarker Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in women and is often not detected until the later stages of disease, which contributes to poor prognosis. Biomarkers that can be used for early diagnosis and outcome have been identified; however, many of these have not been evaluated at the biological and clinical levels. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Michael Birrer and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital identify fibroblast growth factor 18 (FGF18) as a predictive marker for poor overall survival in ovarian cancer patients. Overexpression of the gene encoding FGF18 was associated with enhanced tumor blood vessel formation and expression of cancer promoting cytokines. These data indicate that further studies on the predictive potential FGF18 and its use as a therapeutic target in ovarian cancer are warranted. TITLE: FGF18 as a prognostic and therapeutic biomarker in ovarian cancer AUTHOR CONTACT: Michael Birrer
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Phone: 617-724-4800; E-mail: mbirrer@partners.org View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/70625?key=0daf1c1350c8820558ad Insulin secretion disrupted by increased fatty acids Patients with type 2 diabetes have increased levels of circulating glucose and fatty acids, which lead to disease complications. In healthy individuals, β cells within pancreatic islets release insulin in response to glucose and incretins, which are gastrointestinal hormones. Coordination between β cells is predicted to be important for insulin release. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, David Hodson and colleagues at Imperial College London demonstrate that β cell-β cell interactions are important for insulin secretion in human islets and that these interactions are regulated by incretins. The authors found that increased fatty acid levels suppressed incretin-associated insulin release. These findings indicate that therapies aimed at maintaining β cell connectivity may be useful for restoring glucose balance in type 2 diabetes. TITLE: Lipotoxicity disrupts incretin-regulated human β cell connectivity AUTHOR CONTACT: David Hodson
Imperial College London, London, , GBR
Phone: 447812029560; E-mail: d.hodson@imperial.ac.uk View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/68459?key=b5c05d603bada96f2ee1 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE TITLE: Proximal Tubule H-Ferritin Mediates Iron Trafficking in Acute Kidney Injury AUTHOR CONTACT: Anupam Agarwal
U of Alabama @Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
Phone: 2059966670; E-mail: agarwal@uab.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67867?key=d327ac1d4de2473f2135 TITLE: Retinal angiogenesis suppression through small molecule activation of p53 AUTHOR CONTACT: Sai Chavala
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Phone: 2168490437; E-mail: schavala@med.unc.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67315?key=6b395836741fc796cd8e TITLE: Thrombospondin-1 mediates oncogenic Ras-induced senescence in pre-malignant lung tumors AUTHOR CONTACT: Sandra Ryeom
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phone: 215-573-5857; Fax: 215-573-2014; E-mail: sryeom@upenn.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67465?key=df1a3976bda4a6a3ad15 TITLE: Perturbation of NK cell peripheral homeostasis accelerates prostate carcinoma metastasis AUTHOR CONTACT: Jennifer Wu
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Phone: (206)3415349; Fax: (206)3415302; E-mail: wuj@u.washington.edu View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/69369?key=022f7a3c4c93862b248c ### END