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Many receptors of the immune system are composed of ligand-binding subunits combined with signalling subunits. Here, Matthew Call and Kai Wucherpfennig review recent studies on the assembly and architecture of these receptors and discuss the implications of these studies.
The study of individuals with primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) has helped to define mechanisms that control the development and function of the immune system. This Review focuses on recently characterized PIDs and describes the genetic defects that are associated with these disorders.
Ferrandon and colleagues describe the recognition of bacterial and fungal pathogens byDrosophila melanogaster,the signalling pathways that are activated and the antimicrobial peptides that are induced, highlighting parallels with the mammalian immune system.
To survive a given infection, a host needs to mount a controlled immune response. Regulatory T cells are important components of the regulatory network, which benefit the host by limiting immunopathology but may also be detrimental to the host by favouring pathogen survival.
The existence of membrane rafts has been widely debated, but as discussed in this Review, recent evidence suggests that, by tethering and trapping membrane microdomains, the actin cytoskeleton has an important role in orchestrating membrane-raft dynamics during lymphocyte signalling.
In this article, Margaret Harnett describes the technology of laser scanning cytometry and outlines the benefits of this technique in allowing the detection of signalling and functional events that occur during cell–cell interactionsin situ.
Here, Alan Baxter provides an historical view of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Its value in providing insight into T–cell immunology is clear, but might the reductionist approach to EAE have hindered our appreciation of the polyantigenic responses that occur in multiple sclerosis and thereby its clinical relevance?
