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Taking advantage of intersectional genetics, Valente et al. report a novel strategy for tracking plasmacytoid dendritic cells (DCs) that enables their discrimination from conventional DCs and plasmacytoid DC–like cells, as well as transitional DCs.
The NLRP10 protein is found to form an inflammasome complex in response to mitochondrial damage. Loss of NLRP10 from colonic epithelia promotes inflammatory bowel disease in a mouse model, while a variant predisposing to atopic dermatitis also shows loss of function.
Several panels of naturally arising antibodies against specific chemokines are closely correlated with various favorable COVID-19 outcomes, raising an opportunity to target the chemokine system for long COVID treatment.
A serendipitous behavioral observation in a mouse line led to the discovery that macrophages modulate acute pain. The macrophage-derived protein SNX25 sets the threshold for acute pain through tonic NGF signaling to cutaneous sensory neurons.
Research shows that Vδ1 and Vδ3 γδ T cells that express PD-1 and display potent cytotoxic functions are key immune responders in HLA-class-I-negative colon cancers subjected to immune checkpoint blockade therapy.
In addition to the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection, a significant percentage of patients experience a prolonged illness with varying symptomatology. Longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 patient-centric immunologic, inflammatory and metabolic data collection has allowed the generation of a composite signature to predict recovery.
TH17 cells combat infection but can also drive pathological inflammation. A TH17 cell NLRP3–caspase-8–caspase-3–GSDME axis is now shown to release the alarmin IL-1α without triggering cell death.
Human resident memory T (TRM) cells clonally segregate in distinct tissues, with gene expression signatures tailored to those sites. Hence, beyond a shared language of residency, TRM cells may acquire local dialects to provide site-specific immunity.
A specialized subset of iNKT cells populates the skin in early life, where their supply of transferrin regulates iron metabolism to promote hair follicle development.
Signaling via T cell antigen receptors is diminished during aging. But paradoxically, CD4+ T cells from older adults tend to differentiate into effector-like rather than memory cells. An altered balance between the activities of HELIOS, IL-2Rα, and STAT5 influences this decision.
Expression of the inhibitory receptor PD-1 on regulatory T cells in the tumor microenvironment provides intrinsic stabilization, proliferation and metabolic rewiring signals to restrain tumor immunity.
Diverse inflammasome stimuli recruit NLRP3 to dysfunctional endosomes via interactions with lipids that accumulate in excess on these organelles. Excess lipid detection may be a common principle that explains NLRP3 function in health and disease.
Interactions between the T cell co-receptors CD4 or CD8 and the kinase Lck safeguard T cell activation by low-affinity ligands. Meanwhile, ‘free’ Lck — which cannot bind co-receptors — elicits efficient anti-viral and anti-tumor responses by CD8+ T cells in vivo.
Aging is commonly associated with the loss of cognitive capacity driven by the degeneration of the brain. New research strengthens the links between CD8+ T cells and interferon-γ production in the brain, and neurodegeneration.
