[Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy] Scientists provide an update on recent clinical applications using either human pluripotent stem cells or mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow, adipose tissue, or the umbilical cord for the treatment of human diseases.

[Scientific Reports] The authors suggested a novel strategy to treat triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) using mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles to transform the behaviors and cellular communication of TNBC cells with other non-cancer cells related to tumorigenesis and metastasis.

[Cancer Discovery] Researchers combined CAR T19 with the FDA-approved BCL-2-inhibitor, venetoclax, and demonstrated in vivo synergy in venetoclax-sensitive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

[iScience] Wapl deficiency in T cells reduced loop extensions, changed expression of cell cycling genes, reduced proliferation following in vitro and in vivo stimulation, and reduced severity of graft-versus-host disease following experimental allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

[iScience] Scientists reported the successful generation of third-party hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-engineered human invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, using a method combining HSC gene engineering and in vitro HSC differentiation.

[Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews] Scientists assess the benefits and harms of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of systemic sclerosis.

[Nature Biomedical Engineering] Investigators showed that the premature expression of the T cell receptor (TCR) or a constitutively expressed CAR in T cell-derived induced pluripotent stem cells promoted the acquisition of an innate phenotype, which could be averted by disabling the TCR and relying on the CAR to drive differentiation.

[Cell Stem Cell] Coupling a stroma-free T cell differentiation system with EZH1-knockdown-mediated epigenetic reprogramming, the authors generated iPSC-derived T cells, termed EZ-T cells, which displayed a highly diverse T cell receptor repertoire and mature molecular signatures similar to those of TCRαβ T cells from peripheral blood.

[Nature Communications] Investigators showed that spike-specific CD8+ T cells were activated and expanded in all analyzed individuals receiving the third and fourth COVID-19 mRNA vaccine shots.

[Nature Biomedical Engineering] Researchers described the development and application of a 3D-printed lab-on-a-chip that concurrently detected, via multiplexed electrochemical outputs and within two hours, SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva as well as anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulins in saliva spiked with blood plasma.

[Nature Communications] Whole neuron reconstructions from mice infected with parasites that triggered neuron GFP expression only after full invasion revealed that ~50% of these T. gondii-invaded neurons no longer harbored parasites.

[ISME Journal] The authors studied the parasitic wasp Leptopilina boulardi (Lb) and its host Drosophila melanogaster. Results showed that Lb successfully developed in conventional hosts with a gut microbiota but failed to develop in axenic hosts without a gut microbiota.