Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a disabling condition that affects almost 50% of women over the age of 50. It occurs when the muscles and ligaments supporting a woman's pelvic organs weaken such that the pelvic organs slip out of place, often protruding into the vagina. For many affected women, treatment involves surgery. Defining the molecular mechanisms underlying POP could provide targets for nonsurgical approaches to treating the condition. In this context, a team of researchers, led by Hiromi Yanagisawa, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, has now identified a key role for the protein fibulin-5 in preventing the development of POP in mice.
The team found that fibulin-5 prevents the development of POP in mice in two ways. First, it facilitates the assembly of normal elastic fibers that help keep pelvic organs in place. Second, it inhibits the activity of MMP9, a protein that degrades the elastic fibers that help keep pelvic organs in place. As vaginal tissue samples from women with POP also showed increased levels of MMP-9, the authors suggest that therapies targeting elastic fiber–degrading proteins may help prevent, or even ameliorate, POP in women.
Gina Northington, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, discusses in detail the importance of this study in an accompanying commentary.
TITLE: Extracellular matrix proteases contribute to progression of pelvic organ prolapse in mice and humans
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Hiromi Yanagisawa
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
Phone: 214.648.7723; Fax: 214.648.1488; E-mail: hiromi.yanagisawa@utsouthwestern.edu.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/45636?key=c7a74618d3a706d6e2a5
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: Fibulin-5: two for the price of one maintaining pelvic support
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Gina M. Northington
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Phone: 215.662.6361; Fax: 215.662.7929; E-mail: gnorthington@obgyn.upenn.edu.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/57438?key=dab0f15181873ab2fbf9
INFECTIOUS DISEASE: Targeting tissue destruction in tuberculosis
Infection with the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis can cause tuberculosis. In most people, however, the bacteria do not cause disease but are sequestered in the lung in walled off compartments known as granulomas. By studying both human samples and mice expressing the human form of the protein MMP-1, a team of researchers, led by Paul Elkington, at Imperial College London, United Kingdom, has now generated data indicating that MMP-1 drives lung tissue destruction in granulomas. The team therefore suggests that targeting MMP-1 might provide a way to limit the damage caused by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This and other data indicating that MMPs represent viable therapeutic targets to control Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections are discussed in an accompanying commentary by Padmini Salgame, at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark.
TITLE: MMP-1 drives immunopathology in human tuberculosis and transgenic mice
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Paul Elkington
Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
Phone: +44.20.8383.2733; Fax: +44.20.8383.3394; E-mail: p.elkington@imperial.ac.uk.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/45666?key=e1fa320bcbef4924b014
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: MMPs in tuberculosis: granuloma creators and tissue destroyers
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Padmini Salgame
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
Phone: 973.972.8647; Fax: 973.972.0713; E-mail: salgampa@umdnj.edu.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/57423?key=3b7d5c2835bb456b9eab
ONCOLOGY: On the origin of the tumor
It is, in general, very hard to cure a cancer once it has become clinically apparent. By identifying the cells from which a cancer arises researchers hope that it might be possible to detect cancerous lesions at much earlier stages and treat them more successfully. With this in mind, Andrzej Dlugosz and colleagues, at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, have now identified in mice the cells from which two forms of basal cell carcinoma arise.
Basal cell carcinomas are the most common human cancers. Although uncontrolled Hedgehog signaling drives almost all basal cell carcinomas, it is not clear why they differ in appearance and can be divided into different types. In this study, Dlugosz and colleagues used engineered mouse models of basal cell carcinoma to determine that superficial basal cell carcinoma–like tumors arise from interfollicular epidermis and nodular basal cell carcinoma–like tumors from hair follicle stem cells, thereby generating data that indicate that the cell of origin influences the type of basal cell carcinoma that develops.
In an accompanying commentary, Ervin Epstein Jr., at Children's Hospital of Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, discusses how these data fit with other recent studies on the origin of basal cell carcinomas and open doors for further investigation.
TITLE: Basal cell carcinomas in mice arise from hair follicle stem cells and multiple epithelial progenitor populations
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Andrzej A. Dlugosz
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Phone: 734.647.9482; Fax: 734.763.4575; E-mail: dlugosza@umich.edu.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/46307?key=c7a533e6844cbea21cad
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: Mommy — where do tumors come from?
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Ervin H. Epstein Jr.
Children's Hospital of Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California, USA.
Phone: 510.502.6144; Fax: 510.597.7096; E-mail: eepstein@chori.org.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/57700?key=2017457f482f64dda68e
INFLAMMATION: New role for energy generators in controlling inflammation
The inflammatory response is initiated as a protective response but if the response is sustained or excessive it leads to tissue damage. A team of researchers, led by Jahar Bhattacharya, at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, has now identified in mice a new molecular mechanism that curbs excessive inflammation. Specifically, the team found that mitochondria (the energy generating compartments of a cell) in cells lining blood vessels in the lungs are key regulators of inflammation. As highlighted by both the authors and, in an accompanying commentary, Laura A. Dada and Jacob I. Sznajder, these data provide potential new therapeutic targets for the treatment of the deleterious effects of the inflammatory response.
TITLE: Activation of TNFR1 ectodomain shedding by mitochondrial Ca2+ determines the severity of inflammation in mouse lung microvessels
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Jahar Bhattacharya
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Phone: 212.305.7093; Fax: 212.305.6724; E-mail: jb39@columbia.edu.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/43839?key=40f61efa7caa39f0b9d9
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: Mitochondrial Ca2+ and ROS take center stage to orchestrate TNF-alpha–mediated inflammatory responses
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Jacob I. Sznajder
Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Phone: 312.908.7737; Fax: 312.908.4650; E-mail: j-sznajder@northwestern.edu.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/57748?key=e6d32124ce06b2bc0ee8
GASTROENTEROLOGY: Cellular connection between inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancers
Individuals with the inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis are at high risk for developing colon cancer, but the mechanisms underlying this are not completely understood. A team of researchers, led by Stefan Fichtner-Feigl, at the University of Regensburg, Germany, has now identified a defined population of immune cells known as macrophages that facilitate the development of colon cancer in a mouse model of ulcerative colitis. These cells were marked by expression of F4/80, high levels of CD11b, and low levels of Gr1 and promoted tumor development, in part, via the production of the tumor-promoting factors IL-6 and TGF-beta-1. The authors plan to investigate whether individuals with ulcerative colitis also have increased numbers of these macrophages and whether their presence can be used to predict the development of colon cancer.
TITLE: Tumor development in murine ulcerative colitis depends on MyD88 signaling of colonic F4/80+CD11bhighGr1low macrophages
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Stefan Fichtner-Feigl
University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
Phone: 49.941.944.6868; Fax: 49.941.944.6802; E-mail: stefan.fichtner@klinik.uni-regensburg.de.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/42540?key=54177aab46c50c356361
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