Volume 9 Issue 10, October 2009

The skin and the immune cells that it contains provide essential protection from injury and infection. This Review describes recent studies that expand our understanding of the functional role of these sentinel cells in sensing danger and mediating homeostasis and disease in the skin.

The regulation of gene expression at the level of transcription is important for controlling inflammatory responses. Here, the authors describe the key factors and molecular mechanisms involved in this regulation in macrophages and explain how these factors and mechanisms mediate the distinct but coordinated regulation of the different components of the inflammatory response.

Recent advances in the techniques for genetically engineering various lymphocyte subsets hold great promise for cell-based therapies to improve or correct aberrant immune responses. With several new approaches now entering clinical trials, continued efforts will focus on improving their safety and efficacy.

Studies in rhesus macaques have been instrumental in driving the progression of potential HIV vaccines to clinical testing. But after two failed clinical trials, David Weiner and colleagues re-evaluate the predictive value of data from this animal model and explain how it might be better used for HIV vaccine development.

Complement is one of the first lines of innate immune defence in the body. As reviewed here, complement regulators have a key role in keeping the complement system in check, and dysregulation of complement activation can result in pathology.

Bali Pulendran provides a historical overview of the development of the successful yellow fever vaccine. He describes recent advancements in our understanding of its mechanisms of action resulting from the use of systems biological approaches and how this knowledge might be applicable to vaccine development in general.