eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Primosomal protein PriC rescues replication initiation stress by bypassing the DnaA-DnaB interaction step for DnaB helicase loading at oriC

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Ryusei Yoshida
   2. Kazuma Korogi
   3. Qinfei Wu
   4. Shogo Ozaki
   5. Tsutomu Katayama

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript reports findings of fundamental significance on how bacteria might load helicase for DNA replication when normal DnaA-based loading pathway is defective. It provides convincing genetic and biochemical evidence that helicase loading at the E. coli oriC is not (as previously assumed) exclusively performed by the DnaA initiator protein but can also be executed by PriC (whether this occurs specifically at oriC has not been addressed in vivo). This is a significant step forward in our understanding of bacterial replication initiation.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Exploration of the metabolomic mechanisms of postmenopausal hypertension induced by low estrogen state

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Yao Li
   2. Hui Xin
   3. Zhexun Lian
   4. Wei Zhang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study provides incomplete evidence regarding the pathophysiological role of low estrogen levels post-menopause in hypertension, focusing on L-AABA as a key mediator. The results describe a novel hypothesis for the pathophysiology of hypertension in this population and are of interest to experts in hypertension and vascular biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Adolescent alcohol exposure promotes mechanical allodynia and alters synaptic function at inputs from the basolateral amygdala to the prelimbic cortex

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. J Daniel Obray
   2. Erik T Wilkes
   3. Mike Scofield
   4. L Judson Chandler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents important information as to how adolescent alcohol exposure (AIE) alters pain behavior and relevant neurocircuits, with convincing data. The manuscript focuses on how AIE alters the basolateral amygdala, to the PFC (PV-interneurons), to the periaquaductal gray circuit, resulting in feed-forward inhibition. The manuscript is a detailed study of the role of alcohol exposure in regulating the circuit and reflexive pain, however, the role of the PV interneurons in mechanistically modulating this feed-forward circuit could be more strongly supported.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Mechanistic insight for T-cell exclusion by cancer-associated fibroblasts in human lung cancer

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Joseph Ackermann
   2. Chiara Bernard
   3. Philemon Sirven
   4. Helene Salmon
   5. Massimiliano Fraldi
   6. Martine D Ben Amar

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This is a valuable report of a spatially-extended model to study the complex interactions between immune cells, fibroblasts, and cancer cells, providing insights into how fibroblast activation can influence tumor progression. The model opens up new possibilities for studying fibroblast-driven effects in diverse settings, which is crucial for understanding potential tumor microenvironment manipulations that could enhance immunotherapy efficacy. While the results presented are convincing and follow logically from the model's assumptions, some of these assumptions, as acknowledged by the authors, may oversimplify certain aspects in light of complex experimental findings, system geometry, and general principles of active matter research. Nonetheless, the authors provide justification for their work as a meaningful step towards more comprehensive modeling approaches.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Rho-ROCK liberates sequestered claudin for rapid de novo tight junction formation

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Yuma Cho
   2. Akari Taniguchi
   3. Akiharu Kubo
   4. Junichi Ikenouchi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper identifies a crucial step in the regulation of tight junction formation by identifying Rho-ROCK activity-dependent activation of the serine protease Matriptase, making Claudins available for tight junction formation. The reviewers were satisfied with the revisions and found the work important and the approach convincing.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Non-destructive in situ monitoring of structural changes of 3D tumor spheroids during the formation, migration, and fusion process

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Ke Ning
   2. Yuanyuan Xie
   3. Wen Sun
   4. Lingke Feng
   5. Can Fang
   6. Rong Pan
   7. Yan Li
   8. Ling Yu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The ingenious design in this study achieved the observation of 3D cell spheroids from an additional lateral view and gained more comprehensive information than the traditional one angle of imaging. This extended the methods to investigate cell behaviors in the growth or migration of tumor organoids in a time-lapse manner and these extensions should be important to the field. The authors provide compelling evidence that the methods work as described.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Eed controls craniofacial osteoblast differentiation and mesenchymal proliferation from the neural crest

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Tim Casey-Clyde
   2. S John Liu
   3. Angelo Pelonero
   4. Juan Antonio Camara Serrano
   5. Camilla Teng
   6. Yoon-Gu Jang
   7. Harish N Vasudevan
   8. Arun Padmanabhan
   9. Jeffrey Ohmann Bush
   10. David R Raleigh

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable study, the authors used an elegant genetic approach to delete EED at the post-neural crest induction stage. The usage of the single-cell RNA-seq analysis method is extremely suitable to determine changes in the cell type-specific gene expression during development. Results backed by solid evidence demonstrate that Eed is required for craniofacial osteoblast differentiation and mesenchymal proliferation after the induction of the neural crest.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. A system for functional studies of the major virulence factor of malaria parasites

   This article has 20 authors:

   1. Jakob Cronshagen
   2. Johannes Allweier
   3. Joëlle Paolo Mesén-Ramírez
   4. Jan Stäcker
   5. Anna Viktoria Vaaben
   6. Gala Ramón-Zamorano
   7. Isabel Naranjo-Prado
   8. Max Graser
   9. Patricia López-Barona
   10. Susann Ofori
   11. Pascal WTC Jansen
   12. Joëlle Hornebeck
   13. Florian Kieferle
   14. Agnes Murk
   15. Elicia Martin
   16. Carolina Castro-Peña
   17. Richárd Bártfai
   18. Thomas Lavstsen
   19. Iris Bruchhaus
   20. Tobias Spielmann

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study introduces an important approach using selection linked integration (SLI) to generate Plasmodium falciparum lines expressing single, specific surface adhesins PfEMP1 variants, enabling precise study of PfEMP1 trafficking, receptor binding, and cytoadhesion. By moving the system to different parasite strains and introducing an advanced SLI2 system for additional genomic edits, this work provides compelling evidence for an innovative and rigorous platform to explore PfEMP1 biology and identify novel proteins essential for malaria pathogenesis including immune evasion.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Pleiotropy increases parallel selection signatures during adaptation from standing genetic variation

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Wei-Yun Lai
   2. Sheng-Kai Hsu
   3. Andreas Futschik
   4. Christian Schlötterer

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study makes the important finding that pleiotropy is positively associated with parallelism of evolutionary responses in gene expression. This finding, if true, runs counter to current expectations in the field. The analysis uses state-of-the art experimental evolution approach to study the genetic basis of adaptation of Drosophila simulans to a hot environment. Although the experimental results are convincing, the theoretical model is incomplete, due to several unusual assumptions. It remains to be seen whether the main conclusion can be replicated in other contexts.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Low-dose chemotherapy combined with delayed immunotherapy in the neoadjuvant treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and dynamic monitoring of the drug response in peripheral blood

    This article has 20 authors:

    1. Chaoyang Liang
    2. Qi Song
    3. Wenhao Zhou
    4. Na Li
    5. Qi Xiong
    6. Chaohu Pan
    7. Shaohong Zhao
    8. Xiang Yan
    9. Xiaoling Zhang
    10. Yaping Long
    11. Juntang Guo
    12. Tao Wang
    13. Weiwei Shi
    14. Shengjie Sun
    15. Bo Yang
    16. Zhouhuan Dong
    17. Haitao Luo
    18. Jie Li
    19. Yi Hu
    20. Bo Yang

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      Liang et al. have conducted a small pilot study investigating the feasibility and tolerability of a regimen of neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer, with lower cumulative dose of chemotherapy and with the immunotherapy delivered on D8 of each cycle. The clinical data are interesting and novel, and overall the findings of the study are valuable. However, the translational data and analyses are incomplete and do not support key claims in the title.

    Reviewed by eLife