Lei Zhang’s group at Shenzhen Bay Laboratory reports in Science that PD-1–responsive colorectal tumors contain a spatial niche of helper T cells that arrive from lymph nodes. In mice, an OX40 agonist plus PD-1 blockade pushed that peripheral supply line and slowed tumor growth.
A Zhejiang University team led by Haoxing Xu reports in Science that TMEM184B and TMEM184C are the transporters that move calcium into lysosomes, answering a question open since 1991. The proteins refill lysosomal calcium without energy or acid, and a TMEM184B mutation linked to a neurodevelopmental disorder breaks the transport.
A Shanghai Jiao Tong University-led team reports in Science that the TLR4 immune receptor's TIR domain, long described as an inert scaffold, is a single-use enzyme. It cuts NAD+ into ADP-ribose and keeps the product as molecular glue that locks the inflammation signaling complex together. Mice without this enzyme activity all survived an endotoxin shock test.
China's drug regulator has approved Eli Lilly's orforglipron (sold in China as 穆优达), TMTPost reported on Nov. 12, making it the first oral GLP-1 drug approved in China for weight loss. It's a once-a-day pill for adults with obesity, or overweight adults with a weight-related health problem. The US approved it in April. Pricing, insurance coverage and launch timing in China weren't reported.
Motor neuron disease, also called ALS, has no cure, and existing treatments for rare genetic forms cover under 3% of cases. The other 97% share a failure of a protein called TDP-43, which normally proofreads genetic material. On November 11, King's College London described a Nature study showing that when TDP-43 fails, a single error in the UNC13A gene breaks communication between neurons — and that an antisense oligonucleotide drug restored that communication in human neurons in the lab. This is not a therapy already proven in patients.