A Web Focus is a selection of articles on a related theme drawn from the entire Nature Publishing Group family of journals. With content ranging from Research Highlights, Reviews and Perspectives through to primary research papers, a Web Focus provides a panoramic view of a key area of biology.

Focus

Mucosal immunology

June

Most infectious, allergic and inflammatory diseases in humans involve mucosal surfaces, including the gastrointestinal, reproductive and respiratory tracts. To maintain health, the mucosal immune system must provide protection against pathogens while being tolerant of commensal bacteria and harmless antigens. This Focus highlights the latest advances in our understanding of host–microbe interactions at mucosal sites and the consequences of immune dysregulation at these sites.

Produced in collaboration with the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) and supported by Beckman Coulter

Focus

Allergy and asthma

March

Millions of people worldwide suffer from respiratory diseases such as allergies, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and these diseases constitute a major public health burden. This Focus issue highlights the latest advances in our understanding of the immune bases of these diseases and outlines how this knowledge can be translated into more effective treatment strategies.

Focus

Immune tolerance

August

Immune tolerance is a built-in control mechanism to prevent the immune system from attacking self tissues, but when it goes awry autoimmune diseases can ensue. This Focus highlights the latest advances in our understanding of immune tolerance and anergy, and how this knowledge can be translated into effective immunotherapies.

Focus

Cytokines and cytokine therapies

June

Cytokines act as key communicators for immune cells and maintaining a delicate balance in the level of these communicators is vital for health. This special Focus issue highlights the latest advances in cytokine research and the application of these findings for clinical intervention.

Produced with support from the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) and Beckman Coulter

Focus

Translational immunology

May

Immunology is one of the few disciplines that straddle both basic sciences and applied medicine, and translating what we observe in the laboratory to the clinic is an increasingly important goal for many immunologists. This Focus highlights how basic research findings are being translated and applied to the treatment of cancer, and autoimmune and infectious diseases.

Focus

Early lymphocyte development

February

All the cells of the immune system are derived from precursor cells in the bone marrow. However, full development to become a T cell is completed in the thymus, not in the bone marrow as is the case for B cells. This Focus highlights our current understanding of several steps that are crucial for the complex process of early lymphocyte development.

Focus

Immune-cell communication

July

Cells of the immune system communicate by cell–cell contact and through the production of soluble factors that bind cognate receptors expressed at the surface of target cells. This Focus on immune-cell communication highlights some of the diverse mechanisms of immune-cell communication.

Focus

TLR signalling

July

Innate immunity is the first line of defence against pathogens and is initiated rapidly after recognition of microbial products by receptors such as the Toll-like receptors (TLRs). We outline the signalling cascades initiated by TLR triggering and the therapeutic potential of targeting this pathway, as well as relevant Highlight articles from the journal.

Produced with support from 3M Pharmaceuticals

Focus

Cell death and immunity

May

We examine recent developments that broaden our understanding of how cell death pathways intersect with immunity. New studies are helping to expose the intricate details of cell death in various diseases. In addition to designing immunotherapies, this knowledge fuels further work in understanding the discrimination of self from nonself by the immune system.

Focus

Regulatory lymphocytes

March

The concept of immune regulation mediated by specialized lymphocytes has risen to prominence in recent years. Few investigators now doubt the existence of lymphocytes that can suppress harmful immune responses such as autoimmunity and allograft rejection. But, how many different subsets are there, how do they mediate their effects and what is their therapeutic potential?

Focus

Decision making in the immune system

December

Immunologists are beginning to unravel the ways in which immune-system-specific signals, such as cytokines and antigen, interact with conserved molecular pathways to determine cell fate. In addition, the immune system is an attractive model system to study the regulation of cell-fate determination by biochemical, transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms.

Focus

Vaccines

April

Vaccination has made important contributions to human health with numerous success stories - including the eradication of smallpox and, despite some recent hiccups, the virtual elimination of polio. Despite these successes, there is some way to go before we can claim to have overcome all vaccine-preventable diseases, particularly in developing countries.