Volume 10 Issue 8, August 2010

SCS macrophages protect against invasion of the CNS by the neuropathic virus VSV.

Mucosal-associated invariant T cells shown to have antimicrobial function.

Bacteroides fragilisPSA induces IL-10-producing T_Regcells in a TLR2-dependent manner.

New anti-inflammatory adipokine controls metabolic function.

Plasmablasts migrate autonomously and take long, linear routes to the medulla.

B cell depletion reduces atherosclerosis plaque formation in mice.

Double-hit from virus and susceptibility gene promotes intestinal pathology in mice.

The vertebrate adaptive immune system is defined by antigen-binding receptors of diverse specificity and the cells that express them. But how did this system evolve? Here, our current understanding of the evolutionary acquisition of the factors required to generate such receptor variation and cellular complexity is discussed.

A comprehensive description of the many ways in which TGFβ can inhibit antitumour immune responses through effects on innate and adaptive immune cells and how these immunosuppressive effects could be targeted for the benefit of patients with cancer.

A complex and highly regulated pathway ensures that the delivery of cytotoxic cargo of cytotoxic lymphocytes is appropriately aimed and timed. As reviewed here, the study of patients and mutant mice with cytotoxicity defects has revealed many of the molecules involved in this targeted exocytosis of cytotoxic granules.

This Review emphasizes the clinical and immunological insights that can be gained from recent immunotherapy trials in patients with prostate cancer and how these might apply to developing immunotherapies for other types of solid tumour.

This Review describes the mechanisms by which the X chromosome regulates immune responses. The authors discuss how the effects of this chromosome can account for many of the immunological differences, such as altered susceptibility to infection or autoimmune disease, that occur between the sexes.

Here, John Isaacs describes the societal implications of rheumatoid arthritis and how diagnosis and treatment approaches have evolved. He also discusses the future approaches needed for the complete management of this disease.