Cover story

Micromanaging latent herpes

Duke and Harvard researchers have presented the first biological evidence that microRNAs regulate latency in herpes simplex virus-1 infection. Although the findings may open the door to agents that reactivate the virus so it could be cured via antivirals, other researchers suggest inducing permanent latency would be the better therapeutic strategy.

Targets & Mechanisms

Purely proteasome

Researchers at Hannover Medical School have identified argyrin A as an antitumor compound that inhibits the proteasome and subsequently increases levels of cyclindependent kinase inhibitor 1B. Side-by-side studies with Velcade bortezomib show that argyrin A has a better safety profile in mice and a higher specificity for the proteasome.

Tools

Better deader

Traditional strategies for designing live attenuated vaccines have involved repeated passage of viral and bacterial strains through nonhuman cell lines to select for mutations that reduce pathogenicity. This empirical approach has provided few insights into the molecular basis for attenuation. Teams at Stony Brook and Arizona State now have published two strategies for the prospective design of vaccines that potentially could be applied to a wide range of pathogens.

Imaging prostate cancer metastasis

UCLA researchers have described a noninvasive imaging method to determine the status of lymph node metastasis in prostate cancer, which they suggest could be coupled to gene therapy to simultaneously detect and treat metastatic disease. But precisely targeting the vectors and the utility of imaging a slow-growing cancer are issues that need to be resolved.