Biology subjects

Hodson, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Hodson, M..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

ApolipoproteinE drives inflammation resolution pathways essential for recovery from Japanese encephalitis

Effective control of viral encephalitis requires immune responses that clear infection without causing damaging neuroinflammation, yet the mechanisms governing resolution and recovery remain unclear. Using a Japanese encephalitis virus mouse model spanning asymptomatic, symptomatic, and lethal trajectories, together with single-cell spatial transcriptomics and RNA-seq, we identify apolipoprotein E (ApoE) as a driver of neuroinflammation resolution. Apoe was upregulated in microglia and infiltrating myeloid cells of symptomatic survivors, where Apoe-Trem2-Tyrobp signalling promoted a phagocytic, anti-inflammatory program. In contrast, immune cells in lethal disease failed to induce Apoe and remained pro-inflammatory. ApoE-deficient mice were unable to recover following encephalitis onset, demonstrating that ApoE signalling is essential for resolution and recovery. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid from acute encephalitis patients linked APOE isoforms to neuroinflammation resolution, with APOE{varepsilon}2 carriers exhibiting reduced neutrophils and shorter hospitalisation. These findings identify ApoE as a critical driver of neuroinflammation resolution and a promising therapeutic target for viral encephalitis.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2026

Spatial pharmaco-multiomics reveals drug distribution, metabolic niches, and spatially constrained resistance in medulloblastoma

Single-cell and spatial transcriptomic studies have provided insights into the developmental origins and intratumoural heterogeneity of SHH medulloblastoma (SHH-MB) and suggested how targeted drugs such as CDK4/6 inhibitors remodel tumour ecosystems, yet the interplay between local drug exposure, metabolism, cell state, and drug resistance remains poorly understood. Here we developed a same-section spatial pharmaco-multiomics framework that integrates MALDI-MSI-based spatial metabolomics with Visium whole-transcriptome profiling and high-resolution Xenium imaging to map palbociclib distribution, metabolite landscapes, and transcriptional programs within the same histological contexts of an SHH-MB PDOX model and primary human tumours. Palbociclib-rich tumour bulk exhibited broad suppression of E2F-driven proliferation and a shift toward neuronal differentiation, corroborating and extending prior findings. In contrast, drug-poor tumour-brain interfaces and perivascular regions retained E2F-high proliferative states and were enriched for mesenchymal-like stromal cells and ECM-remodelling genes, indicating anatomically constrained reservoirs of tolerance. Spatial metabolomics linked these interface niches to ganglioside (GM2) and sphingomyelin enrichment, while differentiated, drug-exposed regions displayed phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidic-acid signatures consistent with neuronal maturation. Integrated pathway analysis further revealed a "mitochondrial tuning" program, with upregulation of histidine, folate/one-carbon, CoA, and lipoate metabolism with redox and oxidative-phosphorylation support. These signatures were specific to therapy-exposed border cells. Rare palbociclib-positive, E2F-high resistant spots additionally exhibited mitotic checkpoint and DNA-repair signatures, implying a drug-induced resistance axis independent of scarcity. Together, our study provides a generalisable same-section spatial pharmaco-multiomics pipeline and a spatially resolved model of CDK4/6 response, nominating interface-focused metabolic and cell-intrinsic vulnerabilities for combination therapy.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Bisphosphonate drugs have actions outside the skeleton and inhibit the mevalonate pathway in alveolar macrophages

Bisphosphonates drugs target the skeleton and are used globally for the treatment of common bone disorders. Nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates act by inhibiting the mevalonate pathway in bone-resorbing osteoclasts but, surprisingly, also appear to reduce the risk of death from pneumonia. We overturn the long-held belief that these drugs act only in the skeleton and show that a fluorescently-labelled bisphosphonate is internalised by alveolar macrophages and peritoneal macrophages in vivo. Furthermore, a single dose of a nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate (zoledronic acid) in mice was sufficient to inhibit the mevalonate pathway in tissue-resident macrophages, causing the build-up of a mevalonate metabolite and preventing protein prenylation. Importantly, one dose of bisphosphonate enhanced the immune response to bacterial endotoxin in the lung and increased the level of cytokines and chemokines in bronchoalveolar fluid. These studies suggest that bisphosphonates, as well as preventing bone loss, may boost immune responses to infection in the lung and provide a mechanistic basis to fully examine the potential of bisphosphonates to help combat respiratory infections that cause pneumonia.

pharmacology and toxicology↗

bioRxiv2020

Darwin was right, in any given field, the spatial variability of earthworm communities in pastures isnt driven by measurable soil properties.

Abundance and distribution of earthworms in agricultural fields is frequently proposed as a measure of soil quality assuming that observed patterns of abundance are in response to improved or degraded environmental conditions. However, it is not clear that earthworm abundances can be directly related to their edaphic environment, as noted in Darwins final publication, perhaps limiting or restricting their value as indicators of ecological quality in any given field. We present results from a spatially explicit intensive survey of pastures within United Kingdom farms, looking for the main drivers of earthworm density at a range of scales. When describing spatial variability of earthworm abundance within any given field, the best predictor was earthworm abundance itself within 20 - 30 m of the sampling point; there were no consistent environmental correlates with earthworm numbers, suggesting that biological factors (e.g. colonisation rate, competition, predation, parasitism) drive or at least significantly modify earthworm distributions at this spatial level. However, at the national scale, earthworm abundance is well predicted by soil nitrate levels, density, temperature and moisture content, albeit not in a simple linear fashion. This suggests that although land can be managed at the farm scale to promote earthworm abundance and the resulting soil processes that deliver ecosystem services, within a field, earthworm distributions will remain patchy. The divergence in the interpretative value of earthworm abundance as an ecological indicator is a function of spatial scale, corresponding to species specific biological factors as well as a response to environmental pressures. Species abundance can effectively be used as ecological indicators, even if, at first, distributions seem random. However, care must be exercised, in the sampling design for the indicator species, if its abundance is to be used as a proxy for environmental quality at a particular scale (e.g. a management scale such as field scale).

ecology↗