Department of Veterans Affairs Archives

Vitamin D impact on disease biomarkers

Aug. 10, 2021—In a randomized controlled trial, vitamin D supplementation did not improve biomarkers for cardiovascular and metabolic disease.

Gene expression in diabetic nephropathy

Aug. 5, 2021—Vanderbilt researchers are looking to mRNA populations in podocytes — kidney cells that help filter blood — to help identify potential targets for treating diabetic kidney disease.

Beta cell regeneration

May. 20, 2021—Vanderbilt researchers dissected the complex microenvironment of the pancreatic islet to discover the signals that drive beta cell regeneration — as a possible treatment for diabetes.

Genetic ancestry and hypertension risk

Apr. 29, 2021—Racial disparities in hypertension risk are due in part to genetic differences between ancestries, Vanderbilt investigators find in a study of participants in the Million Veteran Program.

New insights into kidney development

Apr. 15, 2021—Integrin-linked kinase, a central component of a complex that coordinates cell signaling involved in migration, proliferation and cell death, plays a role in kidney development and epithelial cell function.

From left, Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, Bradley Reinfeld, Matthew Madden and Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, have discovered that immune cells — not cancer cells — are the major glucose consumers in the tumor microenvironment, upending a century-old observation.

Study revises understanding of cancer metabolism

Apr. 7, 2021—Tumors consume glucose at high rates, but a team of Vanderbilt researchers has discovered that cancer cells themselves are not the culprit, upending models of cancer metabolism that have been developed and refined over the last 100 years.

Codeine metabolizer status in clinical practice

Apr. 5, 2021—Vanderbilt researchers have developed a response score using genetic and clinical information to aid prescribing of the widely used pain medication codeine.

Deanna Edwards, PhD, left, Jin Chen, MD, PhD, and colleagues are studying a new therapeutic strategy for triple-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer cells ‘steal’ nutrients from immune cells: study

Apr. 1, 2021—Triple-negative breast cancer cells engage in a “glutamine steal” — outcompeting T cells for the nutrient glutamine and impairing their ability to kill tumor cells, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

Electronic health record study discovers novel hormone deficiency

Mar. 11, 2021—A novel hormone deficiency may exist in humans, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered. In an analysis of two decades worth of electronic health records, the researchers found that some patients have unexpectedly low levels of natriuretic peptide hormone in clinical situations that should cause high levels of the hormone.