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Lymphocyte development must be tightly regulated in utero to prevent rejection. New work shows that the zinc finger protein Zfp608 negatively regulates the expression of recombination-activating genes 1 and 2 and may suppress fetal T cell development.
New data show that integrin signaling by the Syk tyrosine kinase requires adaptors, such as DAP12, that have immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs.
Fever is a beneficial systemic response to infection. Such a thermal increase triggers enhanced lymph node recruitment of lymphocytes by augmenting high endothelial venule expression of the homing molecules ICAM-1 and CCL21.
Contacts between T cell receptors and peptide–major histocompatibility complex molecules require specific amino acid interactions. However, some amino acids have no direct involvement in contact but nevertheless are critical for specificity.
How individual hematopoietic stem cells contribute to blood cell formation throughout a lifetime has remained a subject of debate. A new analysis suggests there is substantial variation in hematopoietic stem cell fate and self-renewal activity.
A pathway has been defined linking cell cycle inhibitor p27Kip1 to the inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 and its phosphorylation of transcription factor Smad3 in the induction of in vivo tolerance.
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.
Transcription factor NF-κB is key in both the injury and repair of damaged tissues. Astrocytes use the non-canonical NF-κB activation pathway to modulate brain inflammation in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
Interleukin 17 (IL-17)–producing T cells are associated with inflammatory conditions. Two studies now show that IL-27, an IL-12 family member with both pro- and anti-inflammatory properties, potently suppresses the development of IL-17-producing T cells.
Whether natural killer T cells recognize antigens derived from dangerous pathogens remains unclear. New data demonstrate that a glycolipid from Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, directly stimulates mouse and human natural killer T cells.
