We wanted to share some recent Mass General research that has been published in high impact, top-tier journals. This is just a small snapshot of the incredible research that takes place at Mass General each day — there’s lots more to find at massgeneral.org/research/news!
DETECTING AND TREATING STIFF TUMORS
Published in Nature Scientific Reports on August 14, 2017
(Summary submitted by Peter Caravan, PhD, of the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging)
In tumors, cancer cells are surrounded by a collection of proteins, enzymes, sugars, lipids, and minerals called the extracellular matrix (ECM). Many cancers have a fibrotic ECM, making the tumor stiff and preventing delivery of anti-cancer drugs. The presence of a fibrotic ECM is often associated with poor prognosis. We developed a new MRI method to detect tumor fibrosis non-invasively, and studied its effect in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer. The potential impact of this work is a new tool to stage the aggressiveness of tumors, guide treatment planning, and monitor the effectiveness of new tumor ECM altering treatments.
IMPACT OF BLOOD AND URINE FILTRATION IN LEAKY KIDNEY FILTERS
Published in Scientific Reports on August 16, 2017
(Summary submitted by Hua A. Jenny Lu, MD, PhD, of the Nephrology Division)
One major function of the kidney is filtering blood through an intricate “glomerular filter”. Disruption of any components of this highly sophisticated and dynamic filter’s structure leads to proteinuria (protein in the urine), a condition frequently seen in diabetic nephropathy and many other glomerular diseases. How blood filters though the glomerular filter and how proteinuria develops when the filter becomes leaky has not been well understood. This paper reports the application of a novel and powerful scanning microscopy technology, the Helium Ion microscopy (HIM) to identify previously unrecognized ultrastructural abnormalities of proteinuric glomerulopathy in animals. These newly discovered abnormalities provide important insight into the molecular and cellular mechanism underlying proteinuria kidney diseases.
OBSERVING THE DEVELOPMENT OF TYPE 1 DIABETES
Published in PNAS on August 24, 2017
(Summary submitted by Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Systems Biology)
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease where insulin-producing cells are destroyed. Inflammation in islets of human patients has been hard to evaluate, given the challenging access to material. Now, our research team has discovered how the different cellular players interact. We created new reporter mice and new imaging agents where cells of interest (lymphocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, beta cells) are fluorescent and can be observed by imaging. We were able to observe the intricate “dance” of different immune cells interacting with each other as diabetes develops. Throughout the process, Tregs (a unique type of T-lymphocyte) control the activation of many cell types. The “dynamic geography” of events uncovered here provide important clues to immunoregulation that underlies diabetes development.
NON-INVASIVE MEASUREMENT OF BRAIN ACTIVITY AND MEMORY ENCODING
Published in Scientific Reports on August 25, 2017
(Summary submitted byMeryem Yucel, PhD, of the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging)
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most frequent cause of severe memory loss in the elderly. Early detection of AD is the key to preventing, slowing or stopping the disease. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique capable of monitoring brain activation. Here, we investigated the utility of fNIRS in measuring the brain activity of healthy adults during memory encoding and retrieval under a face-name paired-associate learning task. Their study demonstrates that fNIRS can robustly measure memory encoding and retrieval-related brain activity. Future work will include similar measurements in populations with progressing memory deficits. Their approach, if successful, will introduce a non-invasive, inexpensive and easily accessible tool for identifying early stages of AD.
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