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Tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM cells) have well-described functions in the protective response to infectious agents. Neurath and colleagues demonstrate that intestinal TRM cells can also have key pathogenic roles in inflammatory bowel disease.
Serpins are a large family of serine protease inhibitors. Jae Jung and colleagues show that SERPINB1 serves an endogenous regulatory role for pro-inflammatory caspases by preventing CARD–CARD polymerization and, hence, inflammasome activation.
A new target for controlling T cell responses adds to the list of key processes dependent on the synthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin, which is essential for neurotransmitter and nitric-oxide production and pain control.
Koning and colleagues used mass cytometry, single-cell RNA-seq and high-throughput TCR sequencing to characterize the CD4+ T cell compartment in the human fetal intestine.
Basophils constitute <1% of peripheral blood leukocytes. Piliponsky and colleagues show that basophils serve as a critical component of antibacterial responses by secreting tumor necrosis factor at early time points after systemic infection.
Macrophages have important antitumor functions but can be evaded by tumor-expressed CD47-dependent ‘don’t-eat-me’ signals. Beatty and colleagues demonstrate that the Toll-like receptor 9 ligand CpG metabolically reprograms macrophages to overcome don’t-eat-me signals.
The tumor microenvironment is central to the immunogenicity of tumors. Ho and colleagues show that activity of the mitochondrial protein UCP2 in tumors enhances their immunogenicity through the recruitment of dendritic cells and reprogramming of this microenvironment.
Innate lymphoid cell–derived cytokine IL-13 promotes the maintenance of intestinal stem cells through stabilization of β-catenin. The circular RNA circPan3 regulates mRNA encoding the cytokine receptor subunit IL-13Rα and downstream IL-13 signaling to stabilize the β-catenin pathway in intestinal stem cells.
Activation of STING requires its translocation from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) through the Golgi to vesicles, but the mechanisms that control its localization have been unclear. The ER calcium sensor STIM1 acts as an ER-retention factor that anchors STING on the ER and limits STING signaling.
The N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA-modification pathway substantially affects the outcome of viral infection. Studies now show that m6A modification of transcripts encoding type I interferons limits the duration of anti-viral signaling.
ELMO1 is a protein centrally involved in controlling the engulfment of apoptotic cells. Ravichandran and colleagues demonstrate a noncanonical role for ELMO1 in the promotion of neutrophil migration and inflammatory arthritis.
Fan and colleagues show that circular RNA circPan3 controls expression of the cytokine receptor IL-13Rα1 on intestinal stem cells and, thus, the renewal of those cells in response to IL-13 derived from group 2 innate lymphoid cells.
The transcription factor Foxp1 regulates the quiescence of naïve T cells. Rudensky and colleagues show that Foxp1 has a role that is cooperative and synergistic with that of Foxp3 in regulatory T cells, distinct from its roles in conventional CD4+ T cells.