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Following the birth of the first three-parent baby last year, there seems to be some division between enthusiasm and concerns that still remain over the technique used to prevent a woman passing on a genetic disease to her baby. Diseases, such as Leigh syndrome, a severe neurological disorder, can be passed down through mutations in the mother’s mitochondrial DNA. In March, the UK Fertility Regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, has granted doctors at the Newcastle Fertility Centre the first UK licence to create babies using a donor’s egg, a mother’s egg and a father’s sperm.

In light of the current discussion on mitochondrial replacement therapy, we are highlighting the top 3 recommended articles in the area of spindle transfer and mitochondrial disease in this month’s blog post, as well as the usual top 3 articles for the month and Hidden Jewels.

F1000Prime is a literature recommendation service. The service has a peer-nominated global Faculty of more than 8,000 of the world’s leading biomedical scientists and clinicians who select those articles they think are particularly interesting and important, and write recommendations explaining their selection. From the numerical ratings awarded, we have created a unique system for quantifying the importance of individual articles.

Top 3 article recommendations about mitochondrial replacement therapy

“This paper reports the novel finding that these bone marrow-derived stromal cells can rescue damaged pulmonary alveolar epithelial cells by transferring mitochondria to them.”  Michael Gold, University of British Columbia, Camada

Mitochondrial transfer from bone-marrow-derived stromal cells to pulmonary alveoli protects against acute lung injury

Islam MN, Das SR, Emin MT, Wei M, Sun L, Westphalen K, Rowlands DJ, Quadri SK, Bhattacharya S, Bhattacharya J.

Nat Med. 2012 Apr 15; 18(5):759-65

 

“This article is a breakthrough in experimental therapy of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)-associated disorders.” – Massimo Zeviani and Carlo Viscomi IRCCS Foundation Institute of Neurology, Italy.

 

Mitochondrial gene replacement in primate offspring and embryonic stem cells.

Tachibana M, Sparman M, Sritanaudomchai H, Ma H, Clepper L, Woodward J, Li Y, Ramsey C, Kolotushkina O, Mitalipov S.

Nature. 2009 Sep 17; 461(7262):367-72

“These two papers provide compelling evidence that the technology for providing a treatment for mitochondrial problems is emerging within the oocyte, thus preventing the problem in offspring born of mothers carrying mutant mitochondria.”  Alan McNeilly, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, UK

 

Towards germline gene therapy of inherited mitochondrial diseases.

Tachibana M, Amato P, Sparman M, Woodward J, Sanchis DM, Ma H, Gutierrez NM, Tippner-Hedges R, Kang E, Lee HS, Ramsey C, Masterson K, Battaglia D, Lee D, Wu D, Jensen J, Patton P, Gokhale S, Stouffer R, Mitalipov S.

Nature. 2013 Jan 31; 493(7434):627-31

Current Top 3 recommendations

Rankings are generated using the articles recommended in F1000Prime during the preceding 30 days.

“In this tour de force manuscript, it is shown that a sub-type of astrocytes, which the authors name A1, is induced by activated neuroinflammatory microglia through the secretion of a particular set of cytokines.” – Brian Popko, University of Chicago 

Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia.

Liddelow SA, Guttenplan KA, Clarke LE, Bennett FC … Dawson VL, Dawson TM, Stevens B, Barres BA.   Liddelow SA, Guttenplan KA, Clarke LE, Bennett FC, Bohlen CJ, Schirmer L, Bennett ML, Münch AE, Chung WS, Peterson TC, Wilton DK, Frouin A, Napier BA, Panicker N, Kumar M, Buckwalter MS, Rowitch DH, Dawson VL, Dawson TM, Stevens B, Barres BA.  

Nature. 2017 Jan 26; 541(7638):481-487

“This article reports the remarkable finding that hypoxia can induce metabolic reprogramming of adult mouse cardiomyocytes, resulting in myocardial regeneration.” – James Duffin, Toronto, Canada

 

Hypoxia induces heart regeneration in adult mice.

Nakada Y, Canseco DC, Thet S, Abdisalaam S … Lu Z, Zhang CC, Kimura W, Sadek HA.   Nakada Y, Canseco DC, Thet S, Abdisalaam S, Asaithamby A, Santos CX, Shah AM, Zhang H, Faber JE, Kinter MT, Szweda LI, Xing C, Hu Z, Deberardinis RJ, Schiattarella G, Hill JA, Oz O, Lu Z, Zhang CC, Kimura W, Sadek HA.  

Nature. 2017 Jan 12; 541(7636):222-227

“The study by Tawakol and coworkers provides new insights into the mechanism through which psychosocial stress may contribute to cardiovascular disease.” – Achim Peters, University of Lubeck, Germany, and Britta Kubera, University of Lubeck, Germany

 

Relation between resting amygdalar activity and cardiovascular events: a longitudinal and cohort study.

Tawakol A , Ishai A, Takx RA, Figueroa AL, Ali A, Kaiser Y, Truong QA, Solomon CJ, Calcagno C, Mani V, Tang CY, Mulder WJ, Murrough JW, Hoffmann U, Nahrendorf M, Shin LM, Fayad ZA, Pitman R_

Lancet. 2017 Feb 25; 389(10071):834-845

 

Hidden Jewels

Hidden Jewels rankings only include articles published in specialist journals, recommended in F1000Prime during the preceding 30 days.

“This paper presents a new and novel signaling mechanism responsive to the class of plant growth regulators called auxins, typified by the major endogenous auxin, indole-acetic acid (IAA).” – Judy Callis, University of California, USA

A noncanonical auxin-sensing mechanism is required for organ morphogenesis in Arabidopsis.

Simonini S, Deb J, Moubayidin L, Stephenson P … Sorefan K, Weijers D, Friml J, Østergaard L.   Simonini S, Deb J, Moubayidin L, Stephenson P, Valluru M, Freire-Rios A, Sorefan K, Weijers D, Friml J, Østergaard L.  

Genes Dev. 2016 Oct 15; 30(20):2286-2296

“This important study showed that the neuropsychological side effects are ameliorated by co-administration of the physiological glucocorticoid, cortisol.” –  Karen Chapman, University of Edinburgh, UK

 

Hydrocortisone as an Intervention for Dexamethasone-Induced Adverse Effects in Pediatric Patients With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Results of a Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial.

Warris LT, van den Heuvel-Eibrink MM, Aarsen FK, Pluijm SM … Tissing WJ, Veening MA, Pieters R, van den Akker EL.   Warris LT, van den Heuvel-Eibrink MM, Aarsen FK, Pluijm SM, Bierings MB, van den Bos C, Zwaan CM, Thygesen HH, Tissing WJ, Veening MA, Pieters R, van den Akker EL.  

J Clin Oncol. 2016 Jul 1; 34(19):2287-93

“This study highlights an important aspect of ligand binding to a drug target: the layer of water molecules on the protein binding site that interact with the ligand and affect its binding affinity.” – John Lowe, Consultant at JL3Pharma LLC, USA

 

Rational Design of Thermodynamic and Kinetic Binding Profiles by Optimizing Surface Water Networks Coating Protein-Bound Ligands.

Krimmer SG, Cramer J, Betz M, Fridh V, Karlsson R, Heine A, Klebe G.

J Med Chem. 2016 Dec 08; 59(23):10530-10548