A TFEB-TGFβ axis systemically regulates diapause, stem cell resilience and protects against a senescence-like state.

Diapause is a long-lived state of resilience that allows organisms to outlast adversity. Caenorhabditis elegans can endure months in a fasting-induced adult reproductive diapause (ARD) and, upon refeeding, regenerate and reproduce. Here we find that mutants of ARD master regulator hlh-30/TFEB arrest in a senescence-like state during ARD and refeeding, in which germline stem cells are characterized by DNA damage, nucleolar expansion, cell cycle arrest and mitochondrial dysfunction, alongside dysregulated immune and growth metabolic signatures, elevated senescence-associated β-galactosidase and premature aging at the organismal level.

CD4 T cells contribute to neurodegeneration in Lewy body dementia.

Recent studies indicate that the adaptive immune system plays a role in Lewy body dementia (LBD). However, the mechanism regulating T cell brain homing in LBD is unknown. Here, we observed T cells adjacent to Lewy bodies and dopaminergic neurons in postmortem LBD brains.