Volume 17 Issue 11, November 2017

Maternal–fetal tolerance is promoted by TIM3 signalling in peripheral natural killer cells.

Metabolism of free fatty acids by cell-intrinsic autophagy is an essential component of neutrophil differentiation.

T follicular regulatory cells arise once infection resolves and IL-2 levels wane to prevent the outgrowth of self-reactive B cells.

Nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) regulates IFNγ production in natural killer cells and controls fibrinolytic processes required to clear skin infections.

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have attracted much attention from the immunology community in recent years. This Review discusses the contribution of ILCs to different inflammatory diseases and the potential for targeting ILCs therapeutically in these settings.

As leukocytes travel in the bloodstream, navigate through tissues and mediate effector functions, their behaviour is influenced by mechanical forces. In this Review, Morgan Huse explains how mechanical force regulates receptor activation, cell migration, intracellular signalling and intercellular communication.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a heterogeneous disease: most infections are asymptomatic, but some infected individuals develop active symptomatic disease. This Review describes how features of the host immune response, granulomas and the mycobacteria contribute to the varied outcomes of TB infection.

This Review considers how forkhead box protein P3 (FOXP3) — the key transcription factor of regulatory T (T_reg) cells — is regulated both at the transcriptional level and through post-translational modifications. The authors explain how FOXP3 interacts with other molecules to induce and maintain T_regcell populations, and they discuss the potential of therapeutically targeting FOXP3 in the context of human disease.

Diversity-generating immune strategies can act across the whole genome or be targeted to specific loci, with different consequences for host–pathogen co-evolution.