Immunological models articles from across Nature Portfolio

Recreating human immune biology poses a grand challenge owing to its unique complexity and diversity. This Review discusses advances in bioengineering lymphoid and mucosal tissues, with an emphasis on their translational value.

This Review describes recent advances in the field of 3D in vitro modelling technologies that enable a better understanding of immune cell and tumour cell interactions in the tumour microenvironment. The authors explain how such systems can be used to assess the efficacy of novel immunotherapies, including personalized immunotherapies, for patients with cancer.

Cohousing pet-store mice with laboratory mice leads to the natural transfer of microbes and subsequent inflammation in laboratory mice. Lung group 2 innate lymphoid cells — rapid responders to airway allergens — are transiently inhibited by inflammatory signals, but their activity recovers once the active infection subsides.

Quorum sensing is the regulation of gene expression programmes in response to changes in population density. It is probably best recognized as a mechanism through which bacterial communities can synchronize behaviours, such as biofilm formation and bioluminescence. This Comment article highlights the emerging evidence suggesting that quorum sensing also contributes to the regulation of immune cell responses.

Here, the authors present a new theoretical framework — the discontinuity theory — to account for how the immune system generates an appropriate immune response to any perceived disturbance. On the the basis of this theory, the authors present a mathematical model and provide examples to explain how this model can account for diverse immune responses.

Mathematical modeling shows that two members of the NF-κB family of transcription factors, RelB and p50, form heterodimers and participate in the canonical NF-κB pathway in dendritic cells.