Volume 14 Issue 8, August 2014

Intracellular infection induces type III interferon production from peroxisomes.

Interferon-γ production by memory T cells drives faster and more effective innate immune cell responses.

Interleukin-1 confers resistance to tuberculosis through the induction of eicosanoids that antagonize type I interferons.

Memory T cells synthesize the substrates for metabolic reprogramming to fatty acid oxidation in a cell-intrinsic manner.

Porphyromonas gingivalisevades immune-mediated killing and promotes inflammation to ensure its survival and drive dysbiosis.

CD4⁺T cells detect beryllium hidden within peptide–MHC class II complexes.

The presence of nucleic acids in the cytosol alerts the cell to viral infection or damaged self. The oligoadenylate synthase (OAS) proteins and cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) are enzymes that detect this danger and promote antiviral immunity. Recent structural studies reveal that these enzymes have a common mechanism of action and probably the same evolutionary origin.

T cell development can be divided into three major regulatory phases by the checkpoints that occur at commitment to the T cell lineage and at β-selection. The three phases are each governed by different gene networks that confer distinct cellular characteristics. The correct developmental programme depends on the sequential operation of these gene networks, and cells that fail to enforce the boundaries between phases may be predisposed to leukaemic transformation.

In this Review, the authors describe how Toll-like receptors (TLRs) assemble with signalling adaptor proteins to form higher-order scaffolds that signal in response to pathogen sensing. Productive TLR signalling involves cooperative assembly, post-translational modification and subcellular localization of the components of the signalling complexes.

The butyrophilins are members of the immunoglobulin superfamily that have previously been poorly understood, however they are now emerging as key modulators of the immune system. Here, the authors describe the diverse ways in which butyrophilins can modify immune cell activity and discuss the potential of targeting this family for therapeutic purposes.

Cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) are usually defined by particular functional or phenotypical characteristics. However, this has led to confusion in the field, as many of the criteria that are used to define a particular cell population may actually be shared with other cell types. In this Opinion article, the authors propose that a new nomenclature that is based on cell ontogeny could enable a more robust classification of MPS cells.