HIV-1 reprograms the cellular machinery and employs several unknown host proteins to bud from infected cells. In 5 October Cell, Jennifer Garrus and colleagues from University of Utah School of Medicine and Myriad Genetics, Salt Lake City show that the human tumor susceptibility gene 101 (Tsg101), which functions in vacuolar protein sorting (Vps) pathway, is critical to HIV-1 budding and the progression of the disease into full-blown AIDS.Garrus et al. used small interfering RNA to stop producti

signaling in T cells.

A deficiency in a member of the ADAMTS family of zinc metalloproteinases causes thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

No effective drug currently exists to treat brain injury and the mechanisms that control post-trauma events remain largely unknown. In October 4 Nature, David Panikashvili and colleagues from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, show that the cannabinoid, 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) is part of an endogenous system that protects the brain in the period following traumatic injury.Panikashvili et al. observed that after closed head injury in mice the level of endogenous 2-AG was significantly eleva

The protein 4E-BP1 converts white adipose tissue into brown adipose tissue and consequently reduces obesity.

Mitochondrial coupling factor 6 is a potent circulating endogenous vasoconstrictor, producing hypertension by suppressing prostacyclin synthesis.

can induce the formation of new blood vessels that do not show signs of leakage or inflammation.

Kif1C, a kinesin-like motor protein, protects mice macrophages from the lethal effects of anthrax.

Blood vessels are an essential, but largely passive infrastructure for organ development, supplying metabolic provisions to the dividing cells. But, in September 28 on line Science, Eckhard Lammert and colleagues from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, show that during pancreatic organogenesis blood vessels not only provide metabolic provisions but also offer inductive signals for organ development.Lammert et al. performed cell culture experiments with embryonic mouse tissue an

Cells respond within a millisecond to changes in membrane voltage, emitting sounds whilst they fulfil their function.

A newly identified Btk-interacting protein, IBtk, binds to the PH domain of Btk and downregulates Btk function in B cells.

The proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease interact to enhance each other's distinct degenerative effects