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This Review emphasizes the functional differences between human and murine mast cells, which have often been overlooked in the past, and their implications for studying the role of mast cells in human health and disease.
Transcription factors are key coordinators of cell fate and therefore they must be tightly regulated to ensure proper differentiation. As described in this Review, dysregulation of myeloid-specific transcription factors causes the block in myeloid differentiation seen in many myeloid leukaemias.
The development of humanized mice over the past few decades has enabled the examination of human haematopoiesis, immunity to infectious diseases, cancer and autoantibodies in mice. But are these mice the key to translational research or is more work required?
The T-cell cytoskeleton is a complex intracellular network of structural, adaptor and signalling molecules. This Review discusses recent advances in our understanding of its role in the initiation and maintenance of T-cell activation during antigen-presenting-cell recognition.
Interleukin-7 is important at many stages in the life of a T cell. Expression of its receptor not only regulates how a T cell responds, but also seems to determine how much interleukin-7 is present in the niche, as explained in this Review.
Although the only signalling motif in the adaptor protein DAP12 is generally thought to transduce activating signals, DAP12 has recently been shown to have inhibitory effects. A model to explain how this might occur is proposed in this Opinion article.
The immune-system–brain interface is a crucial route for communication between the brain in health and disease and environmental pathogens and toxins. Can systemic infections and inflammation associated with chronic neurodegenerative diseases exacerbate symptoms and drive the progression of neurodegeneration?
