Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Adenosine produced by apoptotic regulatory T cells (Treg cells) has a more important immunosuppressive role in the tumor microenvironment than that of live Treg cells. This discovery raises the possibility of novel strategies for cancer immunotherapy.
Abolishing signals mediated by the inhibitory receptor PD-1 results in a systemic decrease in tryptophan and tyrosine, which leads to a striking deficiency in the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine in the brain and anxiety-like behavior and exacerbated fear.
Mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT cells) normally preserve gut-barrier integrity but can switch their phenotype to have a pathogenic role in type 1 diabetes.
High-throughput sequencing of B and T cell receptors is routinely being applied in studies of adaptive immunity. The Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR) Community was formed in 2015 to address issues in AIRR sequencing studies, including the development of reporting standards for the sharing of data sets.
The tumor microenvironment represents a stressful cellular environment. Zou and colleagues show that Treg cells in tumors have heightened sensitivity to apoptosis, but unexpectedly this increases their suppressive potency.
The polarization of leukocytes toward chemoattractants is essential for their directed migration. Chen and colleagues show that the phosphoinositide-transfer protein TIPE2 functions as a coordinator of leukocyte polarity.
Fagarasan and colleagues show that excessive activation of T cells in mice deficient in the inhibitory receptor PD-1 causes a systemic decrease in tryptophan and tyrosine, which leads to deficiency in serotonin and dopamine in the brain and behavioral changes.