EMERGING IDEAS IN NEURAL SCIENCE

Nature Neuroscience

• Helping EGFR inhibition to block cancer
  Effectiveness of EGFR treatment is impaired through an early adaptive response. TNF–JNK–Axl–ERK signaling contributes to this primary resistance to EGFR inhibition and might serve as novel target to improve EGFR inhibition.
  Christel Herold-Mende
• VIP cortical conductors set the tone for chronic pain
  Loss of inhibition in a circuit in the primary somatosensory cortex that controls the activity of layer 5 neurons drives pain hypersensitivity. Restoring this inhibition resets the inhibitory–excitatory balance, producing analgesia.
  Michael W Salter
• Is the boss watching?
  A combination of computational modeling, neuroimaging and a causal manipulation of brain activity in humans reveals how the brain represents beliefs about how our choices will affect those of others we interact with.
  Amit Etkin
• CREATEd viruses go global
  A Cre-dependent capsid selection method, CREATE, was used to produce adeno-associated viral vectors that allow gene delivery to the entire central and peripheral nervous systems, with multicolor labeling of single cells.
  Botond Roska
• Hotspots of missense mutation identify neurodevelopmental disorder genes and functional domains
  This study characterizes the properties of disease-causing mutations that produce sporadic amino acid replacements in proteins of people with autism and developmental delay. The mutations tend to cluster and reoccur at specific regions important to protein function, highlighting for future follow-up ∼200 candidate genes, many involved in neuronal signaling. […]
  Evan E Eichler
• A common haplotype lowers PU.1 expression in myeloid cells and delays onset of Alzheimer's disease
  The authors identified a protective genetic allele associated with lower PU.1 (SPI1) expression in myeloid cells by conducting a genome-wide scan of Alzheimer's disease (AD). PU.1 binds the promoters of AD-associated genes (e.g., CD33, MS4A4A & MS4A6A, TYROBP) and modulates their expression, suggesting it may reduce AD risk by regulating myeloid cel […]
  Alison M Goate
• Germline Chd8 haploinsufficiency alters brain development in mouse
  Strong genetic evidence points to a significant role for heterozygous mutations to general chromatin remodeling factors, such as CHD8, in autism. Gompers et al. combine genomic, neuroanatomical and behavioral approaches to present an initial integrative picture of transcriptional mechanisms and widespread impacts of Chd8 haploinsufficiency across brain devel […]
  Alex S Nord
• A TNF–JNK–Axl–ERK signaling axis mediates primary resistance to EGFR inhibition in glioblastoma
  Aberrant EGFR signaling is common in glioblastoma. The authors show that inhibiting EGFR leads to increased secretion of TNF and activation of a survival pathway in cancer cells. A combined inhibition of EGFR and TNF signaling inhibits tumor growth in a mouse model, suggesting a new treatment for patients with glioblastoma.
  Amyn A Habib