Genetic mechanisms of peripheral nerve disease.

Peripheral neuropathies of genetic etiology are a very diverse group of disorders manifesting either as non-syndromic inherited neuropathies without significant manifestations outside the peripheral nervous system, or as part of a systemic or syndromic genetic disorder. The former and most frequent group is collectively known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), with prevalence as high as 1:2,500 world-wide, and has proven to be genetically highly heterogeneous. More than 100 different genes have been identified so far to cause various CMT forms, following all possible inheritance patterns.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa core metabolism exerts a widespread growth-independent control on virulence.

To assess the role of core metabolism genes in bacterial virulence - independently of their effect on growth - we correlated the genome, the transcriptome and the pathogenicity in flies and mice of 30 fully sequenced Pseudomonas strains. Gene presence correlates robustly with pathogenicity differences among all Pseudomonas species, but not among the P. aeruginosa strains.

Metabolic output defines Escherichia coli as a health-promoting microbe against intestinal Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Gut microbiota acts as a barrier against intestinal pathogens, but species-specific protection of the host from infection remains relatively unexplored. Although lactobacilli and bifidobacteria produce beneficial lactic and short-chain fatty acids in the mammalian gut, the significance of intestinal Escherichia coli producing these acids is debatable. Taking a Koch's postulates approach in reverse, we define Escherichia coli as health-promoting for naturally colonizing the gut of healthy mice and protecting them against intestinal colonization and concomitant mortality by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Current Perspectives in Cancer Immunotherapy.

Different immunotherapeutic approaches have proved to be of significant clinical value to many patients with different types of advanced cancer. However, we need more precise immunotherapies and predictive biomarkers to increase the successful response rates. The advent of next generation sequencing technologies and their applications in immuno-oncology has helped us tremendously towards this aim.

RNA editing in the forefront of epitranscriptomics and human health.

Post-transcriptional modifications have been recently expanded with the addition of RNA editing, which is predominantly mediated by adenosine and cytidine deaminases acting on DNA and RNA. Here, we review the full spectrum of physiological processes in which these modifiers are implicated, among different organisms. Adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) editors, members of the ADAR and ADAT protein families are important regulators of alternative splicing and transcriptional control.

Drosophila immune priming against Pseudomonas aeruginosa is short-lasting and depends on cellular and humoral immunity.

Immune responses are traditionally divided into the innate and the adaptive arm, both of which are present in vertebrates, while only the innate arm is found in invertebrates. Immune priming experiments in Drosophila melanogaster and other invertebrates during the last decade have challenged this dogma, questioning the boundaries between innate and adaptive immunity. Studies on repeated inoculation of Drosophila with microbes reveal a long-lasting cellular immunity adaptation against particular microorganisms.

Drosophila and the hallmarks of cancer.

: Cancer was the disease of the twentieth century. Today it is still a leading cause of death worldwide despite being intensively investigated. Abundant knowledge exists regarding the pathological and molecular mechanisms that drive healthy cells to become malignant and form metastatic tumors.

Ras-oncogenic Drosophila hindgut but not midgut cells use an inflammation-like program to disseminate to distant sites.

The gastrointestinal tract is habitable by a variety of microorganisms and it is often a tissue inflicted by inflammation. Much discussion is raised in recent years about the role of microbiota in intestinal inflammation, but their role in intestinal cancer remains unclear. Here we discuss and extent our work on Drosophila melanogaster models of tumorigenesis and tumor cell invasion upon intestinal infection.