Lancet
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Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common cancer worldwide, and cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) account for substantial morbidity and mortality because of their potential for metastasis. SCCs are surrounded by an immune cell infiltrate containing regulatory T cells (Tregs). The aim of this study was to characterise Tregs in SCCs and investigate whether increased Treg numbers in primary skin SCCs are associated with subsequent metastasis. ⋯ Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health Research.
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Coagulation factor XIII-A has a crucial role in thrombus stabilisation and tissue repair. Factor XIII-A deficiency causes a severe bleeding phenotype and impaired wound healing, but the cellular origin of Factor XIII-A is unknown. To identify the cells that maintain the plasma pool, we generated a mouse floxed in coding exon7 of the factor XIII-A gene (F13A1). These mice were crossed with mice transgenic for Pf4-Cre-recombinase (thrombopoietic deletion) or Cd11b-Cre-recombinase (myeloid deletion). The resultant mice were compared with a Mpl-/- (thrombopoietin receptor knockout) thrombocytopenic murine model. ⋯ British Heart Foundation.
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The drivers of neoplasia within low-grade luminal breast cancers remain undelineated. The BUB and CDC family are among kinase genes known recently to help to identify luminal breast cancers with poorer prognosis. Additionally, other CDC kinase genes (CDC42) are associated with luminal A breast cancers with good prognosis. We aimed to investigate the role of these kinases at the protein level within low-grade luminal breast cancers. ⋯ Pathological Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, National Institute for Health Research.
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Patients with loss-of-function mutation in neurokinin B (NKB) and its receptor show hypogonadotropic hypogonadism characterised by failure to progress through puberty, indicating the involvement of this newly described hypothalamic peptide in human reproduction. However the role of NKB in regulating ovarian function in adult women is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that a NKB antagonist would decrease gonadotropin secretion and inhibit folliculogenesis in healthy women. ⋯ Wellcome Trust through the Scottish Translational and Therapeutics Initiative.
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Signalling though the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R), which is widely expressed in the hypothalamus, mediates food intake and macronutrient preference in rodents. Studies in patients with MC4R deficiency can provide insights into the role of this pathway in man. We investigated the role of melanocortin signalling in fat and sucrose preference in human beings by studying patients with loss of function mutations in MC4R. ⋯ Wellcome Trust, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund, NeuroFAST consortium, which is funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 245009.