GLI1

[Nature Neuroscience] Scientists used two-photon microscopy and followed neural stem cells that were genetically labeled through conditional recombination driven by the regulatory elements of the stem cell-expressed genes GLI family zinc finger 1 or achaete-scute homolog 1.

[Cell Death & Differentiation] Researchers report that myeloid-specific Foxo1 knockout (Foxo1M-KO) mice were resistant to oxidative stress-induced hepatocellular damage with reduced macrophage/neutrophil infiltration, and pro-inflammatory mediators in liver ischemia/reperfusion injury.

[Nature Communications] Investigators report a mechanism regulated by the oncogenic SOX2-GLI1 transcriptional complex driving melanoma invasion through the induction of the sialyltransferase ST3GAL1. Using in vitro and in vivo studies, they demonstrated that ST3GAL1 drove melanoma metastasis.

[Nature Cell Biology] Scientists showed that Gli1+ MSCs, previously shown to contribute to myofibroblasts during scarring, promoted metaplastic differentiation of airway progenitors into KRT5+ basal cells.

[Nature Communications] The authors used single cell RNA-sequencing of patient tumors to identify three prognostic surface markers (LYPD3, TACSTD2, and LY6D) which correlated with myocardin-related transcription factor (nMRTF) and resistance to Smoothened inhibitors. The nMRTF cell state resembled transit-amplifying cells of the hair follicle matrix, with AP-1 and TGFß cooperativity driving nMRTF activation.

[Cancer Research] Researchers showed in mice that activation of canonical Gli-dependent Hedgehog signaling by Gli1 gene transfer was sufficient to recover salivary function impaired by irradiation.