The October 2020 “VTPP Science in action” article is for the first time two articles! One comes from the laboratory of Dr. Cris Heaps published in Atherosclerosis. The studies performed by graduate student Trevor Self (Dr. Heaps mentor) and in collaboration with Dr Newell-Fugate and Dr. Weeks were designed to evaluate a novel, non-destructive method for the visualization and characterization of atherosclerotic lesions as an alternative to or complementary to conventional histology. The data provide the first that micro-computed tomography (microCT) in conjunction with an iodine-based radiopaque agent effectively characterizes atherosclerotic plaques comparable to routine histology. The extremely interesting article that provides a potential new mechanistic paradigm (PDF attached to this email) can be found at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021915020305311?via%3Dihub
The second “VTPP Science in action” article comes from the work of Dr. Mahsa Zarei published in Oncogene. Dr. Zarei’s study continues her focus on Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), an autosomal dominant tumor suppressor syndrome, characterized by tumor development in multiple organs, including the kidney. TSC is caused by germline loss of function mutations in either the TSC1 or TSC2 genes. The studies reported revealed that the MITF gene (MITF-A) was consistently highly expressed in renal tumors and functions as critical driver gene of renal tumor development. As such, inhibition of MITF-A expression is a new therapeutic opportunity for this tumor. The extremely interesting article that provides a potential new mechanistic paradigm (PDF attached to this email) can be found at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41388-020-01504-8