Neuroblastoma is a cancer that shows a strange behavior: sometimes it regresses spontaneously, whereas other times it becomes malignant. A team from Nagoya University in Japan identified a previously unknown “uncommitted" neuroblastoma cell state and found that mice presumed to have undergone spontaneous regression exhibited a higher frequency of these uncommitted cells. Gene signatures of the uncommitted cell state were strongly associated with favorable prognosis in human neuroblastoma patients suggesting that understanding these cells could help treat this devastating disease.

Health research inspired by the remarkable regeneration of animals like axolotls or starfish asks how future therapeutics could promote the regrowth of hard-to-heal tissues, limbs, or even entire organs. A new study in Science Advances is a step toward clarifying a less visible, yet vital, corollary—how regeneration comes to a successful close when a tissue has healed.

A pretreatment step could help transplanted pancreatic islets survive longer in patients with type 1 diabetes, according to a new preclinical study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. One combination of small molecules extended the cells’ lives in female mice, and adding two molecules to the mixture boosted cell survival in male mice.

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