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The 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine recognizes James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Südhof, whose work over several decades has characterized key components and mechanisms of the trafficking machinery in eukaryotic cells. Reflecting on these Nobel Prize-winning discoveries raises some important and exciting prospects for immunologists.
Immunology is traditionally viewed as a science of 'mice and men'. However, key insights can come from the study of immune responses in livestock or wild animals. The fact that the most deadly pathogens of humans are often zoonotic in nature lends further weight to the importance of this research. The authors discuss the benefits of, and challenges posed by, these studies.
Sepsis is the host inflammatory response to severe, life-threatening infection with the presence of organ dysfunction, and is the most frequent cause of mortality in most intensive care units. Here, the authors argue that, following survival of the initial hyper-inflammatory response, the patient enters a protracted immunosuppressive phase and, therefore, that immunotherapies to treat prolonged sepsis must target the specific cellular dysfunctions associated with immunosuppression.
Ageing is associated with impaired immune responses to pathogens and vaccines. As described in this Review, ageing results in disrupted regulation of immune cell functions and innate immune receptor signalling, and in the establishment of a persistent pro-inflammatory milieu. The authors explain how this age-associated dysregulation might contribute to chronic inflammatory diseases in the elderly.
Prions are infectious proteins that cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases. The prion itself is a misfolded conformer of a normal host protein, which explains why it is difficult for the immune system to respond to it effectively. The authors explain how prions evade, and indeed exploit, immune components to spread to the central nervous system, and they discuss the immunotherapies that are being developed to combat these lethal infections.
