The inflammatory mediator interleukin-1 (IL-1), which is known to be a driver of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, has recently been identified as a major contributor to ischaemic brain injury. IL-1 is made by the haematopoietic (blood) system and also by cells in the brain. The relative contributions of central versus peripheral sources of IL-1 to brain injury have not been previously investigated. Here, Stuart Allan and colleagues selectively eliminated haematopoietic-derived IL-1 in a chimeric mouse model of ischaemic brain injury. They demonstrate that both sources of IL-1 are important for disease development, but removal of the peripheral source alone is sufficient to improve neurological outcome in the mice. This suggests that therapies that target peripheral IL-1 could be beneficial in brain injury, potentially overriding the need to deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier. Page 1043
Development/DMM Virtual Meeting 2021
Welcoming new Editors to DMM
Editor-in-Chief Liz Patton wants DMM to strengthen its presence in the field of translational biology and to focus on the importance of disease mechanisms, just as much as models. To implement this vision, we are pleased to welcome new Editors Sally Dunwoodie (Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Australia), Monkol Lek (Yale School of Medicine, USA) and Rickie Patani (Francis Crick Institute, London, UK) to the team.
Roles of the gut microbiome in colorectal cancer development
Going hand-in-hand, a new Perspective by Foegeding et al. explores the Western diet as a driver of dysbiosis in colorectal cancer while a new Review by Wang et al. focuses on microbiota-driven mechanisms that initiate sporadic colorectal cancer.
preLights – the latest disease modelling preprints
Head over to preLights for the digests of the latest preprints:
Erin McGregor highlights work by Nowicka et al. that suggests a potential connection between mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodegeneration.
Emma Wilson discusses work by Dagra et al., which highlights D2 receptors as a potential target that could be used to alleviate alpha-Synuclein pathology in Parkinson’s disease.
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