Immunological deficiency syndromes articles from across Nature Portfolio

People living with HIV-1 are at an increased risk of developing various cancers. Here, the authors suggest that HIV-1-encoded Vpr can promote oncogenesis by forming a ternary complex with VprBP and Plk4 and inducing Plk4-dependent centriole overduplication and aneuploidy.

Fifteen years’ follow-up of clinical development and real-world data from 43 patients show that gammaretroviral gene therapy for adenosine deaminase deficiency has a positive long-term efficacy profile, warranting continued safety monitoring of patients receiving gene therapy.

Papanastasiou et al. develop a deep learning-based method to identify combined immunodeficiencies (CID) and common variable immunodeficiencies (CVID) from large-scale electronic health record data. Distinctive combinations of antecedent phenotypes associated with CID/CVID are identified that could improve early diagnosis.

MLKL is regarded as an executor of the necroptotic inflammatory cell death pathway. Here authors show, by introducing a mutation into mouse MLKL representing a frequently occurring human single nucleotide polymorphism, that MLKL mutations could critically alter the inflammatory response and the clearance of Salmonella from organs upon infection.

Apart from lifestyle, environment and chance events, genetic factors have a key role in delineating the health and longevity of an individual. Research by Park et al. has now shed light on the role of mammalian GIMAP5, a longevity-assurance (LASS) gene encoding a GTP-binding protein that regulates ceramide synthesis and cellular senescence.

The failure of T cell-targeted vaccines for HIV in clinical trials is likely due to impaired degranulation of low-avidity CD8⁺ T cells in the context of low levels of antigen presentation.

Hematopoietic stem-cell gene therapy has proven to be an effective treatment for several primary immunodeficiencies, and yet companies in this space are withdrawing from the EU market. Technological and regulatory innovations and a change to cost–benefit models are needed so that rare disease patients can receive these life-saving medicines.