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Therapeutic strategies that induce antigen-specific immune tolerance without suppressing the ability of the immune system to respond to infectious agents are needed for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. But how might these antigen-specific therapies induce tolerance and are they safe for use in the clinic?
To get to the site of inflammation, leukocytes must first adhere to and traverse the blood-vessel wall, events that occur in a cascade-like manner. But what are the exact steps in this cascade and what molecules are involved?
Recently, two key regulators of calcium influx in lymphocytes were discovered — STIM and ORAI. How this has advanced our understanding of calcium signalling in lymphocytes and the pathological consequences of disruption of this pathway are discussed in this Review.
Natural killer (NK) cells perform multiple functional activities, including rapid cytokine production and spontaneous cytotoxicity. James Di Santo and colleagues review the evidence that such functional heterogeneity arises from the development of diverse NK-cell subsets with unique biological roles.
Although best known for its role in mother-to-child IgG transfer, new roles for the neonatal Fc receptor for IgG (FcRn) are emerging. Its role in regulating serum antibody half-life in adults has important implications for autoimmune diseases and antibody-based biologicals.
Hedgehog signalling proteins, and in particular sonic hedgehog, have a role in T-cell development in the thymus and in peripheral T-cell activation, but, as outlined here, some aspects of their functions remain controversial.
The activating receptor NKG2D (natural-killer group 2, member D) recognizes an array of ligands that are upregulated by cellular stress. But what value is it for the host to express so many ligands for one receptor, and what drives NKG2D-ligand diversity?
