M2 tagged posts

Design of a TAM-targeting supramolecular therapeutic.

Supramolecule provides a double whammy to knock out cancer’s ‘eat-me-not’ signaling, keep macrophages on the attack. Researchers have found that cancer cells evade destruction by macrophages in 2 ways – by converting cells to become docile, M2 macrophages, and by sending out an ‘eat me not’ signal that tricks M1 macrophages into letting them be. Investigators have developed a therapeutic that delivers a double whammy to knock out both mechanisms.

Macrophages play a paradoxical role, with M1 macrophages rousing the immune system to action and M2 macrophages quelling inflammation...

Macrophages initiate and direct other immune responses

A research team describes ‘tuning’ macrophages from ones that repair wounds (and contribute to tumor growth) to ones that sterilize wounds (and contribute to immune system’s attack of tumor tissue).

The immune system’s macrophages pick a life path. Cancers encourage macrophages to pick the path of wound-repair, making what are called “M2” or “repair-type” macrophages. Cancers use these M2 macrophages to promote their own growth. Now researchers can successfully flip M2 macrophages into their wound-sterilizing cousins, called “M1” or “kill-type” macrophages, which, contrary to promoting the growth of new tissue, may aid the immune system in clearing the body of cancer.

“The basic message we’re trying to convey is that turning those M2 m...

Mild cold and exercise stimulate creation of “beige fat” in white adipose tissue

It triggers a surprising metabolic mechanism: white fat cells are transformed into cells similar to brown fat ( ‘beige fat’), that protects the body against excess weight and its damaging consequences. In healthy humans, white adipose tissue constitutes ~25% of body mass. However, when in excess, white fat contributes to insulin resistance and diabetes. Conversely, brown fat improves insulin sensitivity and is reversely correlated to obesity.

In response to cold or exercise, cells similar to brown fat – the beige fat – can appear within the white fat, a phenomenon known as “browning...