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Understanding of the signaling networks regulating T cell anergy remains incomplete. Two reports now demonstrate that alterations in diacylglycerol metabolism regulate the adoption of an anergic versus an activated T cell fate.
The identification of a functionally distinct thymus-dependent lineage of mouse natural killer cells demonstrates the diversity of the natural killer cell population.
Yersinia pestis evades lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation and establishes deadly infection mediated by myriad virulence factors. Virulence can be completely neutralized, however, if Y. pestis expresses a Toll-like receptor 4–stimulating LPS.
Wnt signaling has been shown to be involved in stem cell regulation and may represent a key pathway in controlling hematopoiesis. But is it possible for hematopoietic stem cells to get too much of a good thing?
Immunoglobulin and T cell receptor (TCR) germline transcription is associated with V(D)J recombination of these loci. New work formally demonstrates that transcriptional read-through of the TCR–Jα cluster indeed regulates TCR-Jα rearrangements.
Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling must be tightly regulated to avoid uncontrolled inflammation. A fifth Toll–interleukin 1 receptor adaptor domain, SARM, has been identified as an inhibitor of TLR3 and TLR4 signaling.
The established dogma of 'horror autotoxicus' was overturned 50 years ago with the publication of a paper showing that autoimmune thyroiditis could be induced in animals. Noel Rose recounts the events that led to the establishment of autoimmunity as a cause of disease.
The establishment and replenishment of thymic epithelium and the persistence of epithelial progenitor cells into adult life were discussed at ThymOz-V 2006.