Volume 6 Issue 7, July 2006

This article aims to make the methodology behind the recent spate of papers reportingin situimmune-cell imaging more accessible to the reader and to highlight potential artefacts so that the reader can analyse the data more critically.

Recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms of atherosclerosis, which is an inflammatory disease that involves the formation of plaques in the arteries, indicate that the immune response can both promote and reduce disease.

The way in which natural killer (NK) cells acquire tolerance to self is still not fully understood. Possible mechanisms involved in NK-cell self-tolerance are discussed in detail in this Review, with an emphasis on the involvement of MHC-class-I-specific receptors.

The p38 proteins are mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) that are activated by the MAPK cascade in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines and cell stresses. However, an alternative pathway of p38 activation might be particularly important in T cells and inflammatory cells.

This article describes recent studies defining thein vivoimportance of neutrophil serine proteases in the intracellular and extracellular killing of microorganisms, as well as in the regulation of non-infectious inflammatory processes, such as the modulation of active cytokine concentrations.

The precise point at which haematopoietic precursors commit to being T cells is a hotly debated area. Eric Jenkinson and colleagues propose that, in the fetus, commitment occurs prethymically and Notch signalling in the thymus reaffirms rather than determines such commitment.

Dental caries is caused by a bacterial infection that is prevalent worldwide. This article discusses the scientific evidence that vaccination could prevent the spread of this disease, and it puts forward the argument, in terms of public health, for the development of such a vaccine.