eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. The Slingshot phosphatase 2 is required for acrosome biogenesis during spermatogenesis in mice

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Ke Xu
   2. Xianwei Su
   3. Kailun Fang
   4. Yue Lv
   5. Tao Huang
   6. Mengjing Li
   7. Ziqi Wang
   8. Yingying Yin
   9. Tahir Muhammad
   10. Shangming Liu
   11. Xiangfeng Chen
   12. Jing Jiang
   13. Jinsong Li
   14. Wai-Yee Chan
   15. Jinlong Ma
   16. Gang Lu
   17. Zi-Jiang Chen
   18. Hongbin Liu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study reports the physiological role of Ssh2 in spermatogenesis as a critical factor for acrosome biogenesis. Loss of SSh2 in round spermatids prevents the fusion of proacrosomal vesicles leading to fragmented acrosomes due to impaired actin bundling and dephosphorylation of COFILIN. This work would be more convincing if mutations in this gene could be identified in human infertile men. Moreover, the proposed mechanism needs cross-validation in future work.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Csf1 from marrow adipogenic precursors is required for osteoclast formation and hematopoiesis in bone

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Leilei Zhong
   2. Jiawei Lu
   3. Jiankang Fang
   4. Lutian Yao
   5. Wei Yu
   6. Tao Gui
   7. Michael Duffy
   8. Nicholas Holdreith
   9. Catherine A Bautista
   10. Xiaobin Huang
   11. Shovik Bandyopadhyay
   12. Kai Tan
   13. Chider Chen
   14. Yongwon Choi
   15. Jean X Jiang
   16. Shuying Yang
   17. Wei Tong
   18. Nathanial Dyment
   19. Ling Qin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper is of potential interest for scientists who study bone marrow stem/progenitor cells, bone remodeling, and metabolism. Using Adipoq-Cre-based conditional deletion of Csf1 and scRNA-seq approaches, the authors provide compelling evidence that a subset of cells in murine bone marrow, characterized by AdipoQ expression, are a major source of M-CSF to regulate osteoclast formation and bone remodeling. This is a well-written, well-executed set of studies, the data from which largely support the above key claim.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. A process model account of the role of dopamine in intertemporal choice

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Alexander Soutschek
   2. Philippe N Tobler

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents an important reanalysis of a prior dataset testing effects of D2 antagonism on choices in a delay discounting task. While the prior report using standard analyses showed no effects, the current study used a DDM to examine more carefully possible effects on different subcomponents of the decision process. This approach revealed compelling evidence of contrasting effects of D2 blockade on the effect of reward size differences and bias on choice behavior, findings which should be of broad interest to neuroscientists trying to understand dopamine function or the factors influencing choice behavior.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Characterisation of the immune repertoire of a humanised transgenic mouse through immunophenotyping and high-throughput sequencing

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Eve Richardson
   2. Špela Binter
   3. Miha Kosmac
   4. Marie Ghraichy
   5. Valentin von Niederhäusern
   6. Aleksandr Kovaltsuk
   7. Jacob D Galson
   8. Johannes Trück
   9. Dominic F Kelly
   10. Charlotte M Deane
   11. Paul Kellam
   12. Simon J Watson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Humanized transgenic mice represent an important tool for antibody discovery and vaccine profiling but their similarity to human immune responses has not been established so far. In this manuscript, Richardson et al. comprehensively characterize IgH repertoires of Ky mice that carry human immunoglobulin heavy (IgH) and light chain (Igk and l) genes. The data presented here will be useful for setting a foundation for the use of this model, as well as other similar transgenic models, in future studies.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Reducing societal impacts of SARS-CoV-2 interventions through subnational implementation

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Mark M Dekker
   2. Luc E Coffeng
   3. Frank P Pijpers
   4. Debabrata Panja
   5. Sake J de Vlas

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is a valuable contribution to the SARS-CoV-2 modelling literature that will be of interest to infectious disease modellers studying the impact of spatially heterogeneous interventions for transmission control. The calibration and analysis of the proposed model is sound and and the results provide convincing evidence that supports the claim that localised interventions could potentially reduce societal impact while maintaining outbreak control. However, the paper provides little insight into what drives the regional diffusion in the Netherlands and how that diffusion could be affected by local lockdowns and a more thorough exploration of the model is warranted. There is also an opportunity to consider behavioural consequences, feasibility, and potential ethical implications of the proposed approach in greater depth.

   Reviewed by eLife, ScreenIT

6. IL-4 and helminth infection downregulate MINCLE-dependent macrophage response to mycobacteria and Th17 adjuvanticity

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Judith Schick
   2. Meltem Altunay
   3. Matthew Lacorcia
   4. Nathalie Marschner
   5. Stefanie Westermann
   6. Julia Schluckebier
   7. Christoph Schubart
   8. Barbara Bodendorfer
   9. Dennis Christensen
   10. Christian Alexander
   11. Stefan Wirtz
   12. David Voehringer
   13. Clarissa Prazeres da Costa
   14. Roland Lang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The effect of helminth infection on vaccination against tuberculosis infection and disease is an important area of study. In this manuscript, the authors build off of a large body of prior data showing that mycobacterial antigens upregulate MINCLE whilst the cytokine IL-4 downregulates MINCLE. As IL-4 is upregulated during Helminth infections, this can antagonize Th1/Th17 responses. By using two different models of helminth infection, the authors demonstrate an organ-specific impairment of Th17 responses in a vaccination setting with a MINCLE-dependent adjuvant. The work is topical and may have important translational implications for patients with tuberculosis and helminth co-infections and/or vaccination regimens for patients with helminth infections. The study will be of interest to individuals studying the convergence of different infectious diseases.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Regulatory dissection of the severe COVID-19 risk locus introgressed by Neanderthals

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Evelyn Jagoda
   2. Davide Marnetto
   3. Gayani Senevirathne
   4. Victoria Gonzalez
   5. Kaushal Baid
   6. Francesco Montinaro
   7. Daniel Richard
   8. Darryl Falzarano
   9. Emmanuelle V LeBlanc
   10. Che C Colpitts
   11. Arinjay Banerjee
   12. Luca Pagani
   13. Terence D Capellini

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Scientists had previously discovered that humans and neanderthals mated leading to parts of neanderthal DNA becoming part of the human genome today. More recently, it was found that a genetic region, carrying which has been associated with manifestation of severe COVID-19 symptoms, is one that was "introgressed" into humans from neanderthals. This region contains many genetic variants, and this study set out to identify which of these genetic variants may be causally involved in creating severe symptoms in response to COVID-19 infection. The main critiques of the study stem from details of the functional assays to establish the regulatory role of the 4 variants in creating severe COVID-19 symptoms. In particular, the two genes (critical chemokine receptor genes: CCR1 and CCR5) that the authors identify as down-regulated by these variants are actually up-regulated in severe COVID-19 patients, leading to doubt about the role of these variants in changing response to COVID-19 through the regulation of these genes. In that regard, it seems necessary to conduct follow-up experimental and computational analyses to establish the role of these variants in altering CCR1 and CCR5 gene expression.

   Reviewed by eLife, ScreenIT

8. The antidepressant sertraline provides a novel host directed therapy module for augmenting TB therapy

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Deepthi Shankaran
   2. Anjali Singh
   3. Stanzin Dawa
   4. Prabhakar Arumugam
   5. Sheetal Gandotra
   6. Vivek Rao

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Host directed therapies (HDTs) have the potential to improve management of tuberculosis (TB) through shortening of the duration of standard 6-month chemotherapy and promoting recovery of respiratory sufficiency. Several such agents have come to the fore recently and in this study, the authors investigate the use of sertraline (SRT) and demonstrate that it potentiates the activity of anti-tubercular drugs in macrophages as well as in the murine model of TB infection. The authors propose a model whereby SRT acts through modulation of the inflammasome.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Gasotransmitter modulation of hypoglossal motoneuron activity

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Brigitte M Browe
   2. Ying-Jie Peng
   3. Jayasri Nanduri
   4. Nanduri R Prabhakar
   5. Alfredo J Garcia

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The purpose of this study was to determine whether heme oxygenase -2 deficiency translates to deficiencies in motor neuron function. This paper plays a plausible mechanism by which heme oxygenase-2 deficiency can lead to obstructive apneas. Indeed, this is among the first papers to comprehensively describe a signaling pathway in motor neurons and the consequences of its deficiency. Furthermore, the work completed here may be relevant to other diseases in which motor neuron signal transmission is a key contributor.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Dalpiciclib partially abrogates ER signaling activation induced by pyrotinib in HER2+HR+ breast cancer

    This article has 13 authors:

    1. Jiawen Bu
    2. Yixiao Zhang
    3. Nan Niu
    4. Kewei Bi
    5. Lisha Sun
    6. Xinbo Qiao
    7. Yimin Wang
    8. Yinan Zhang
    9. Xiaofan Jiang
    10. Dan Wang
    11. Qingtian Ma
    12. Huajun Li
    13. Caigang Liu

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This study presents a valuable finding that the combined use of pyrotinib with dalpiciclib exhibits better therapeutic efficacy against HER2+/HR+ breast cancer cells. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is rather solid. The work will be of interest to medical biologists and clinical doctors working on breast cancer.

    Reviewed by eLife