●γ-Secretase, Notch, Aβ and Alzheimer's disease: where do the presenilins fit in? Sisodia, S. S. & St George-Hyslop, P. H. Nature Reviews Neuroscience April (2002) Understanding the complex biology of γ-secretase cleavage, a key event in the production of Aβ in Alzheimer's disease, might lead to the development of drugs aimed at this currently intractable therapeutic target.

●Focus on vaccinesNature Reviews Immunology April (2002) Includes the following articles:

●Spinning molecular immunology into successful immunotherapy Pardoll, D. M.

Insights into the cells, molecules and signalling pathways that regulate immune responses are providing new vaccine-based strategies for tackling viral infections and cancer.

●New hope for an AIDS vaccine Robinson, H. L.

Recent approaches for the development of a vaccine against HIV have focused on generating effective cytotoxic CD8 + T-cell responses. Robinson discusses the rationale for such vaccines, and the promising results generated in recent trials.

●The quest for an AIDS vaccine: is the CD8+ T-cell approach feasible? McMichael, A. & Hanke, T.

●Ethical issues for vaccines and immunization Liu, M. A.

●New concepts on the immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis Hemmer, B., Archelos, J. J. & Hartung, H. P. Nature Reviews Neuroscience April (2002)

Recent developments have questioned classical views on the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Can this new knowledge be used to develop novel therapeutic approaches?

●Listening to silence and understanding nonsense: exonic mutations that affect splicing Cartegni, L., Chew, S. L. & Krainer, A. R. Nature Reviews Genetics April (2002) Increasing evidence indicates that many human disease genes contain exonic mutations that affect pre-mRNA splicing. Elucidation of the underlying mechanisms could allow new approaches to treating some genetic diseases to be explored.

●Death and anti-death: tumour resistance to apoptosis Igney, F. H. & Krammer, P. H. Nature Reviews Cancer April (2002) Resistance of tumour cells to apoptosis is an essential feature of cancer development. How can we use our knowledge of the pathways that regulate apoptosis to resensitize tumour cells to apoptosis and thus to tumour therapy?