The high-affinity tyrosine kinase receptor MET plays a pivotal role in several facets of cell regulation. Although its mitogenic effect is well documented, some aspects of connection patterns between signaling pathways involved in cell cycle progression remain to be deciphered. We have used a tractable heterologous expression system, the Xenopus oocyte, to detect connections between distinct MET signaling

Influenza A virus matrix protein 1 (M1) is the most abundant protein within virions and functions at multiple steps of the virus life cycle, including nuclear RNA export, virus particle assembly, and virus disassembly. Two recent publications have presented the first structures of full-length M1, and show that it assembles filaments in vitro via an interface between the N- and C- terminal domains of

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented state of emergency, during which medical doctors struggled to save lives, and scientists worked feverishly to study the virus, identify effective drugs or develop vaccines in record time. Several different approaches to vaccine production were used, some of which were traditional and others quite innovative. mRNA vaccines had never been licensed for humans

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The level of the transcription factor SOX2 correlates with HCC progression, but its role in fat accumulation remains unclear. Here, a high-fat diet, with and without fructose, significantly upregulated SOX2 in murine liver tissue. Treatment with free fatty acids (FFAs) and fructose upregulated SOX2 in murine FL83B

Organisms have an evolutionarily conserved internal rhythm that helps them anticipate and adapt to daily changes in the environment. Synchronized to the light-dark cycle with a period of around 24 hours, the timing of the circadian clock is set by light-triggering signals sent from the retina to the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Other inputs, including food intake, exercise, and temperature, also affect

Pellino proteins are E3 ubiquitin ligases involved in the innate immune system. Recently, Pellino-2 was reported to modulate the activation of the mouse Nlrp3 inflammasome. We examined the intracellular localization of human Pellino-2 in THP1-derived macrophages during activation with LPS and ATP. We observed that Pellino-2 changed intracellular localization and colocalized with the inflammasome proteins

Melo, Sonia A. and Esteller, Manel (2011) Dysregulation of microRNAs in cancer: Playing with fire, FEBS Letters, 585, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.febslet.2010.08.009 In the final version of the review, the authors inadvertently left uncited several sentences used in early versions of the manuscript that were supposed to be only used as reference points to be particularly developed by the authors in the