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Fibrin deposition occurs after the blood–brain barrier is breached. Akassoglou and colleagues generate a therapeutic monoclonal antibody that targets a cryptic fibrin epitope to suppress activation of innate immune responses in the CNS and diminish neuroinflammation.
Neutrophils are linked to tumor progression. Gabrilovich and colleagues demonstrate that neutrophils have tumor-stage-dependent alterations in motility, function and metabolism: in early phases, they are highly motile with altered metabolism, whereas at later stages, they become highly suppressive.
Song and Colonna provide an overview of the common microglial response to neurodegeneration and discuss insights from mouse models and the study of human disease-associated genes.
The kinase NIK activates a noncanonical NF-κB2 signaling pathway. Shao-Cong Sun and colleagues show that conditional loss of NIK in dendritic cells alters gut microbiome composition and TH17 cell responses, as a result of reduced expression of IL-23, pIgR and fecal IgA transcytosis.
Kubes and colleagues describe the presence in females of estrogen-driven, innate antibodies against specific oligosaccharides in EPEC that are maternally transferrable to offspring in mice and humans.
Environmental cues instruct cell fate during hematopoiesis. Igarashi and colleagues show that the transcription factors Bach1 and Bach2 promote erythropoiesis and suppress myelopoiesis. Infection and inflammatory signals suppress Bach expression, which results in anemia.
Studies of mice demonstrate a link between the female hormone estrogen and protection against bacteremia and sepsis through the induction of natural antibodies to Eshcerichia coli.
Cell-type-specific regulation of gene expression by transcription factors is a fundamental principle of biology. New findings show that microRNA-mediated control of target-gene expression is also dependent on the cellular context.
New insights into how NK cells are educated by the receptor NKG2D, which leads to effects on another receptor, NCR1, raise interesting questions about why so many receptors are linked to the education of NK cells.
lncRNAs can regulate immune responses at a number of levels. Song and colleagues demonstrate that the lncRNA NKILA is expressed by tumor-associated cytotoxic T cells, and this predisposes them to activation-induced cell death and escape of tumors from immunologically mediated destruction.
Polić and colleagues show that the activating receptor NKG2D specifically sets the activation threshold for the activating receptor NCR1, providing a mechanism distinct from previously known mechanisms of NK cell education.
MicroRNAs regulate gene expression by targeting mRNAs via complementarity with seed sequences. Rudensky and colleagues provide genome-wide profiles of the microRNA miR-155 in multiple immune cell lineages and identify its cell-type effects on gene expression.
Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) that produce the cytokine IL-5 are found in lung, gut, fat and skin tissues. New findings indicate that ILC2s in different tissues selectively express distinct functional cytokine receptors for cell activation in response to the local environment.
TH17 cells contribute to anti-fungal and anti-bacterial adaptive immune responses. Sallusto and colleagues show that the transcription factor c-Maf has an immunoregulatory role in directing gene expression and tissue residency in human IL-10+ TH17 cell subsets.
