cells

An investigation led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has shown that two oncoproteins, Vav2 and Vav3, control part of the development of one of the most frequent skin cancers, squamous cell carcinoma. The finding could be used to create drug targets against this type of tumor and against other skin diseases such as psoriasis.

Whether your fat cells or adipocytes start to burn calories like crazy or keep their sebum deposits suspiciously depends, to a large extent, on the temperature.

At the end of their life, after having divided fifty or more times, our cells often rest and "retire." They enter a state known as senescence in which they are still active but cannot duplicate more, and which is associated with aging and cancer prevention. Now, research in which the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) has participated reveals a new detail: by secreting a cocktail of factors, senescent cells can transmit their "retirement" state to other nearby cells.

How long can a living being remain buried under ice without destroying its cells? Decades, Centuries? For now, some mosses that had been frozen under the Teardrop Glacier (Canada) since the Little Ice Age (1550-1850) have been able to grow back in the hands of scientists from the University of Alberta (Canada), who have grown in vitro. This regenerative capacity of bryophyte plants (that is, non-vascular) is essential for the recolonization and maintenance of polar terrestrial ecosystems.

In the battle against cancer, nothing is lost. We know that cancer cells have a trick to grow out of control: they know how to inhibit the natural process that would cause them to die at the right time. The good news is that scientists from Ohio State University (USA) have identified a compound in plant foods, apigenin, that can prevent tumor cells, especially those that cause breast cancer, behave as "immortal" . And, therefore, avoid the development of tumors.

Scientists from the University of Oregon (USA) and the Oregon National Primate Research Center have reprogrammed human skin cells to obtain embryonic stem cells capable of transforming into any other cell in the body. They are convinced that therapies with these cells will make it possible to replace damaged cells in different organs and treat Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and spinal cord damage, among other pathologies.

We don't just smell using our nose. A team of scientists has just verified that the heart, blood, lungs and other cells of the body have receptors to perceive odors identical to those that exist in the nose. Or put another way, that the ability to smell is not exclusive to the nose.

A team of scientists from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) has managed to reverse paralysis in dogs and restore movement of their limbs after injecting a culture of cells from their snout into the spinal cord. The results are published in the journal 'Brain'.