Featured
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News |
Drug firm to share raw trial data
Full disclosure could improve health care and restore trust.
- Declan Butler
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News |
India moves to tackle antibiotic resistance
Drug regulator aims to restrict over-the-counter sales.
- Erica Westly
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News |
Doctors debate safety of starch drips
Study fuels controversy over widely used intravenous fluids.
- Daniel Cressey
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Research Highlights |
Molecule blocks sperm production
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News |
Birth control for men edges closer
Researchers make male mice reversibly infertile without using hormones.
- Amy Maxmen
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News |
Amino acid provides shortcut to drugs
Organocatalyst halves synthesis of prostaglandin family.
- Katharine Sanderson
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News |
Lawsuit challenges anti-ageing claims
Former executive sues manufacturer of pill meant to rejuvenate cells.
- Brendan Borrell
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Letter |
Neuronal circuitry mechanism regulating adult quiescent neural stem-cell fate decision
Parvalbumin-expressing interneurons regulate the activation and fate choice of adult neural stem cells.
- Juan Song
- , Chun Zhong
- & Hongjun Song
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News & Views |
Shock and kill
Antiretroviral therapies block HIV replication but they do not eliminate inactive viruses within cells. A clinical trial shows that a drug can revive HIV in patients as a potential first step towards a cure. See Letter p.482
- Steven G. Deeks
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Letter |
Administration of vorinostat disrupts HIV-1 latency in patients on antiretroviral therapy
The latent HIV-1 reservoir represents a major barrier to curing patients with HIV-1 infection, and now in vivo evidence is presented that vorinostat can disrupt proviral latency of HIV-1.
- N. M. Archin
- , A. L. Liberty
- & D. M. Margolis
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News & Views |
Longer life for artificial joints
Drug candidates that are related to a common metabolite called adenosine inhibit inflammation and reduce bone destruction in artificial joints. The finding suggests a potential approach to increasing the durability of prosthetic implants.
- Joel Linden
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Letter |
TNF receptor 1 genetic risk mirrors outcome of anti-TNF therapy in multiple sclerosis
Genome-wide association studies in combination with functional analyses identify a genetic variant that explains why anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy, used in several autoimmune diseases, exacerbates multiple sclerosis.
- Adam P. Gregory
- , Calliope A. Dendrou
- & Lars Fugger
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News & Views |
A false sense of non-self
A drug used for HIV treatment can alter the set of antigens that activates T cells of the immune system, thereby triggering life-threatening reactions against the body's own proteins. See Letter p.554
- Ellis L. Reinherz
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Research Highlights |
Antidepressants' cellular target
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Research Highlights |
Forcing cells to divide
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Article |
Chemical genetic discovery of targets and anti-targets for cancer polypharmacology
Using Ret-driven models of multiple endocrine neoplasia, it is shown that optimal kinase inhibition must aim to target an ideal spectrum of tumour-relevant kinases while avoiding ‘anti-targets’ that cause unwanted toxicity.
- Arvin C. Dar
- , Tirtha K. Das
- & Ross L. Cagan
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Research Highlights |
Switching p53 back on
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Research Highlights |
Anti-seizure drug boosts memory
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News & Views |
How opioid drugs bind to receptors
The search for safe, non-addictive versions of morphine and other opioid drugs has just received a boost with the solving of the crystal structures of the receptors to which the drugs bind. See Articles p.321 & p.327, Letters p.395 & p.400
- Marta Filizola
- & Lakshmi A. Devi
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Letter |
Structure of the δ-opioid receptor bound to naltrindole
The X-ray crystal structure of the mouse δ-opioid receptor in complex with the subtype-selective antagonist naltrindole is reported.
- Sébastien Granier
- , Aashish Manglik
- & Brian K. Kobilka
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Outlook |
Animal models: Not close enough
Despite some outstanding drug-development successes, the mouse version of multiple sclerosis has been worryingly unreliable at screening human treatments.
- Jocelyn Rice
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Outlook |
Progressive multiple sclerosis: The treatment gap
Most new treatments for multiple sclerosis are for patients with the relapsing–remitting form of the disease. Those with the more advanced, progressive type are being left behind.
- Courtney Humphries
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Article |
Regulation of circadian behaviour and metabolism by synthetic REV-ERB agonists
Synthetic REV-ERB agonists can alter the circadian expression of core clock genes in the hypothalami of mice, which changes the expression of metabolic genes in liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, and results in increased energy expenditure.
- Laura A. Solt
- , Yongjun Wang
- & Thomas P. Burris
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News & Views |
Cell lines battle cancer
Large panels of human cancer cell lines, profiled at the DNA, RNA and chromosomal levels and tested for sensitivity to approved and potential drugs, will accelerate the search for new cancer therapies. See Article p.570 & Letter p.603
- John N. Weinstein
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Letter |
The Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia enables predictive modelling of anticancer drug sensitivity
The Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia presents the first results from a large-scale screen of some 947 cancer cell lines with 24 anticancer drugs, with the aim of identifying specific genomic alterations and gene expression profiles associated with selective sensitivity or resistance to potential therapeutic agents.
- Jordi Barretina
- , Giordano Caponigro
- & Levi A. Garraway
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Article |
Structure of the human κ-opioid receptor in complex with JDTic
The crystal structure of the human κ-opioid receptor in complex with an antagonist, JDTic, is determined, with potential importance for the design of new therapeutic agents.
- Huixian Wu
- , Daniel Wacker
- & Raymond C. Stevens
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Article |
Crystal structure of the µ-opioid receptor bound to a morphinan antagonist
The crystal structure of the mouse μ-opioid receptor bound to an antagonist is described, with possible implications for the future development of analgesics.
- Aashish Manglik
- , Andrew C. Kruse
- & Sébastien Granier
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Letter |
A murine lung cancer co-clinical trial identifies genetic modifiers of therapeutic response
In parallel with an ongoing human clinical trial, genetically engineered mouse models of lung cancer with different genetic alterations are treated with chemotherapeutic agents; the results have implications for the clinical trial.
- Zhao Chen
- , Katherine Cheng
- & Kwok-Kin Wong
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Research Highlights |
Behind marijuana memory lapse
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News |
How marijuana makes you forget
Drug affects previously overlooked brain cells that have a crucial role in memory formation.
- Mo Costandi
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Research Highlights |
Cognitive boost to brain connections
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News & Views |
Muscarinic receptors become crystal clear
Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors mediate many physiological responses of the nervous system. Structures of two of these receptors yield insight into how they bind drugs and their mechanism of action. See Letters p.547 & 552
- Rebecca L. Kow
- & Neil M. Nathanson
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News & Views |
Genomics decodes drug action
Drugs used to treat African sleeping sickness are outdated, and how they enter cells and exert biological effects is poorly understood. A genome-wide study using RNA interference provides valuable insight. See Letter p.232
- Alan H. Fairlamb
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Research Highlights |
Drug drives cancer stem cells
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News |
A wake-up call for dormant genes
Anti-cancer drug holds potential as a treatment for genetic-imprinting disorder.
- Rebecca Hill
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Letter |
Topoisomerase inhibitors unsilence the dormant allele of Ube3a in neurons
Cancer drugs that can potentially treat Angelman syndrome are identified.
- Hsien-Sung Huang
- , John A. Allen
- & Benjamin D. Philpot
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Research Highlights |
Spoilers of chemotherapy
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Outlook |
Drugs: Lines of defence
Antiviral treatments are a critical component of an effective healthcare response to influenza, but drug resistance to the treatment-of-choice has public health officials searching for other options.
- Roxanne Palmer
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News |
Rat models on the rise in autism research
Neuroscientists switch to rats as genetically modified strains become increasingly available.
- Ewen Callaway
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News |
Smoking stokes cocaine cravings
Molecular mechanism found for controversial 'gateway drug' hypothesis.
- Virginia Gewin
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News |
Malaria vaccine one step closer to approval
Trial results are promising, but marred by poor efficacy against severe forms of the disease.
- Daniel Cressey
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Letter |
Antidiabetic actions of a non-agonist PPARγ ligand blocking Cdk5-mediated phosphorylation
- Jang Hyun Choi
- , Alexander S. Banks
- & Patrick R. Griffin
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Article |
Human metabolic individuality in biomedical and pharmaceutical research
- Karsten Suhre
- , So-Youn Shin
- & Christian Gieger
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Comment |
Give memory-altering drugs a chance
The ethical challenges of memory-dampening drugs are likely to be manageable and the pay-offs considerable, says Adam Kolber.
- Adam Kolber
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News |
Drug waste harms fish
Discharges from pharmaceutical factories contaminate rivers on three continents.
- Natasha Gilbert
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Research Highlights |
Target for blocking cocaine
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Letter |
Oxysterols direct B-cell migration through EBI2
- Changlu Liu
- , Xia V. Yang
- & Timothy W. Lovenberg
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News |
Mice with human livers deal with drugs the human way
'Humanized' mice could provide better assessment of drugs' toxicity for humans.
- Marian Turner