Volume 12 Issue 9, September 2012

ABL family kinases modulate chemokine-induced T cell polarization and migration to sites of inflammation.

Follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) arise from ubiquitous perivascular PDGFRβ⁺cells.

The RIG-I-like receptor LGP2 is a cell-intrinsic regulator of antiviral CD8⁺T cell responses.

An antibiotic evasion strategy in bacteria also confers resistance to the innate immune sensor TLR13.

Oral delivery of a novel vaccine formulation induces immune protection against viral infection of rectal and vaginal mucosal sites.

Memory CD4⁺T cells use multiple redundant and synergistic mechanisms to mediate protection against influenza A virus.

HIV-infected CD4⁺T cells have a reduced rate of migration and an elongated morphology, which might represent a strategy for direct cell-to-cell transfer of the virus.

Chiba and colleagues characterize the role of TIM3 in suppressing innate antitumour immune responses.

In this Review, the authors describe how immune responses are initiated and propagated against antigens found in the central nervous system (CNS). They explain how the unique anatomy of the CNS affects immune surveillance of its tissues, and discuss the implications for autoimmune responses in the CNS.

Infections with HIV, hepatitis B virus and cytomegalovirus have markedly different outcomes depending on whether they are acquired during infancy or adult life. Information about the differences between antiviral immune responses in early and later life that can be gained from these examples should inform the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Forkhead box O (FOXO) transcription factors have many diverse physiological functions and regulate gene-expression programmes that are involved in immunity, metabolism and oncogenesis. This Review discusses how FOXO proteins integrate different environmental signals in order to regulate T cell differentiation and functions in a context-dependent manner.

Can the immune system influence how our brain works? Here, Jonathan Kipnis and colleagues discuss the emerging hypothesis that T cells, and in particular their production of interleukin–4, can have beneficial effects on learning and memory.

T cells must recognize a vast array of potential foreign peptide–MHC complexes. Comprehensive immune cover can only be provided if each T cell recognizes numerous peptides. The implications of this T cell cross-reactivity include autoimmune disease but also provide opportunities for multiple therapeutic interventions.