Volume 16 Issue 12, December 2016

A cell-intrinsic checkpoint restricts type 2 cytokine production by ILC2s and T_H2 cells at sites of tissue damage.

Broadly neutralizing human antibodies for Zika virus protect adult mice and prevent maternal–fetal transmission.

Macrophages regulate phagocytic and inflammatory responses by non-professional phagocytes.

Multinuclear granuloma macrophages arise through a distinct differentiation pathway mediated by chronic TLR2 signalling, rather than by cell fusion.

Type I interferons induced by chronic viral infections suppress the induction of early neutralizing antibody responses.

Alan Sher describes a 2002 paper by Martien Kapsenberg and Pawel Kalinski that provided evidence for the conditioning of DCs by microbial compounds to promote T_H1 or T_H2 cell responses.

Macrophages expressing PPARγ support skeletal muscle regeneration by inducing secretion of the myoblast growth factor GDF3.

In this Review, the authors discuss the emerging roles for members of the transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) superfamily in regulating immune responses. In particular, they focus on how activin A and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) regulate innate and adaptive immune cells in inflammatory diseases and cancer.

The tumour suppressor p53 has well-known functions in cell repair and cell death that have led to its title as the 'guardian of the genome'. Here, the authors discuss the less-well appreciated roles of p53 and other tumour suppressor genes in shaping immune responses; they propose that these genes could also be considered to be 'guardians of immune integrity'.

Research into the immune mechanisms associated with healthy tolerance to common foods, the inflammatory response underlying food allergies, and immunotherapy-induced desensitization promises new approaches to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of food allergy.

A hypothesis is presented proposing that antibodies raised against commensal microorganisms shape the composition of the microbiota — through a process the authors call antibody-mediated immunoselection — and influence the overall health of the host.