Volume 13 Issue 11, November 2013

Intracellular LPS triggers non-canonical inflammasome activation of caspase 11.

Zinc fingers 1 and 4 of the Ikaros protein have differential roles in lymphocyte development and in lymphomagenesis.

The presence of memory T_FHcells in the blood correlates with the development of broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV.

Ageing predisposes individuals to macrophage- and TNF-dependent intolerance of cancer immunotherapy.

Type 2 ILCs respond to metabolic cues and tune eosinophil numbers to the circadian clock.

Binding of the mucus component mucin 2 to intestinal dendritic cells delivers immunoregulatory signals.

The transcription factor T-bet is best known to immunologists as a master regulator of T helper 1 cell differentiation. However, it is becoming apparent that T-bet has important functions in other leukocyte populations, including memory CD8⁺T cells, B cells, innate lymphoid cells, dendritic cells and natural killer cells. This Review discusses these emerging immunological roles for T-bet.

Colonization resistance — protection from exogenous pathogens by commensal bacteria — can be mediated by direct antagonism and by indirect effects on the host immune response. This Review outlines our current knowledge of immune-mediated colonization resistance against clinically relevant, antibiotic-resistant intestinal pathogens and how insights into commensal bacterial species and their mechanisms might be therapeutically used to restore resistance.

Semaphorins and their primary receptors, the neuropilins and plexins, participate in a wide range of innate and adaptive immune responses, which has implications for immune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and allergy.

Chemokines control key immunological processes by signalling through G protein-coupled receptors. In addition, chemokines can be bound by atypical chemokine receptors (ACKRs), which are structurally related to conventional chemokine receptors, but which do not mediate classical signalling responses. This Review describes the biological functions of ACKRs and introduces the new nomenclature that has been proposed for this family.

The age-related involution of the thymus is associated with impaired cellular immunity and it is possible that restoring the thymopoietic activity of the thymus could have medical benefits. In this Opinion article, the authors discuss the development, involution and regeneration of the thymus and highlight the major gaps that still remain in our understanding of these processes.