Volume 23 Issue 5, May 2013

Allergic asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways in which epithelial cells, dendritic cells and innate lymphoid cells are increasingly implicated. Recent findings suggest that apoptotic cells are phagocytosed by airway epithelial cells in a Rac1-dependent manner and this leads to dampening of innate and adaptive immunity to allergens.

In mice treated with antibiotics to deplete commensal microbiota, there is a significant overhaul of host cellular disposition and function with CX3CR1+ mononuclear phagocytic cells carrying pathogenic and non-pathogenic administered bacteria to the (messenteric lymph node) MLN, resulting in T cell stimulation and IgA production.

Successful derivation of pancreatic progenitors from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in vitro and further differentiation towards functional β cells in vivo may create the possibility of using hESC-derived pancreatic progenitors (PPs), instead of derived β cells, as an alternative transplantable source in β cell replacement therapy. Here we discuss present approaches, as well as future alternatives, in the fields of basic and clinic research on β cell differentiation, derivation and transplantation.

Microglia were previously attributed to be vital brain guardians for neuronal survival and synaptic pruning during development as well as for the brain's fight against environmental pathogens. A new report in Nature by the Heneka, Latz and Golenbock groups, however, sheds new light on these distinct myeloid cells by revealing their deadly nature for mature neurons during neurodegeneration.

The intracellular levels of the p53 tumor suppressor protein are regulated through various pathways and involve numerous regulatory components. A recent study published in Cell Research identifies a proteasome-independent pathway of p53 protein degradation in the nucleolus that is dependent on Def and Calpain3.