Fifty years later: the disk goes to the prom.

Although age-related macular degeneration is the most prevalent macular disease in the world, numerous discoveries regarding the molecular bases of vision have been made through genetic association studies of rare inherited maculopathies. In this issue of the JCI, Yang et al. present a functional genetics study that identifies a role for prominin 1 (PROM1), best known as a stem cell and/or progenitor cell marker, in the biogenesis of retinal photoreceptor disk arrays (see the related article beginning on page 2908). This study supports an established model in which disk morphogenesis occurs through membrane evagination and extends other recent studies assigning PROM1 important functions outside of the stem cell niche.

Stanniocalcin: no longer just a fish tale.

Stanniocalcin was originally described as a hormone with calcitonin-like actions in fish. During the last decade, mammalian forms of stanniocalcin have been identified, and this discovery has led to important advances in our understanding of this enigmatic polypeptide hormone. This review briefly covers some early studies on stanniocalcin in fish and then provides a more in-depth look at some of the more intriguing, new aspects of its functions in mammals. The roles of stanniocalcin in renal function, metabolism, angiogenesis, pregnancy and lactation, bone formation, and neural protection are discussed, along with new information relating to its receptor-mediated sequestration and accumulation in target cell organelles.

Hughes' syndrome: the antiphospholipid syndrome. A historical view.

In the 15 years since our description of the antiphospholipid syndrome, it has become recognised as an important disease, not only in the world of lupus but in the broader areas of obstetrics, neurology and vascular disease. Although advances have been made in the understanding of the interactions of antibodies, protein co-factors, clotting molecules, endothelium and platelets, much still needs to be learnt about management where strokes, in particular, continue to cause significant morbidity.

Glycoproteins now and then: a personal account.

The present article opens with a brief summary of the current knowledge of glycoproteins and their medical applications, as compared to the almost complete ignorance of these substances during the first half of the century. The author then relates how he became interested in carbohydrates in the 1950s, and subsequently in glycoproteins. He focuses on the identification of soybean agglutinin as the first known plant protein of this class, to which a widely occurring N-linked oligomannoside is attached, and continues with an account of his work on the coral tree lectin that contains plant-specific N-glycans. Moving at the same time deep into lectin research, he describes the discovery of the crucial role of bacterial surface lectins in the initiation of infectious diseases, thus providing the rationale for the current attempts to use carbohydrates for antiadhesion therapy of such diseases. The article ends with a survey of the author's contribution to spreading wide the knowledge of glycoproteins and of their great importance in biology and medicine.