Osteoarthritis is more than wear and tear. An Advanced Science study in mice and human synovium finds that HMGCR, the statin-targeted enzyme of cholesterol synthesis, runs too hot in synovial fibroblasts, overproduces cholesterol, drives cellular senescence, and fuels synovitis and cartilage breakdown; local joint knockdown of HMGCR in mice reverses senescence and eases pain and cartilage loss.
Subcutaneous fat is more than a storage tank. In a Cell Metabolism mouse study, skin injury prompts macrophages to make fat cells release fatty acids; hair follicle stem cells take up these monounsaturated fatty acids via CD36, switch on Pgc1-alpha for energy, and exit dormancy to regrow hair, forming a macrophage-to-adipocyte-to-follicle metabolic relay.
IgA nephropathy is the most common primary glomerulonephritis worldwide. In a mouse study, antroquinonol, a purified compound from Antrodia camphorata mycelium, switched three pathways at once, activating Nrf2, restraining T cells, and silencing the NLRP3 inflammasome, easing kidney damage.
## Against the hardest breast cancer, a desert shrub hits two brakes at once If you have heard that breast cancer can be treated by "reading its hormone recept
## Why some liver cells survive a chemical hit Loganin, a modest iridoid glycoside from Cornus fruit, helps liver cells endure chemical assault by flipping two
## Why does one toxic protein spare some neurons and destroy others? Amyloid-beta, the protein at the heart of Alzheimer's, does not kill every neuron identica