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Correlative analyses of polymorphism and disease resistance in Drosophila melanogaster refine our understanding of the forces that maintain variation in innate immunity loci.
Antigen receptor genes are assembled by a sequence of lineage-specific recombinatorial events, in which DNA breaks must be properly repaired to ensure cell survival and further developmental maturation. B lymphocytes, it seems, use multiple unique pathways to repair their DNA.
The function of the mammalian TIR domain adaptor protein SARM is unclear. In Caenorhabditis elegans, however, the homolog of SARM controls the induction of peptides involved in innate immunity.
The idea that Qa-1-dependent CD8+ suppressor T cells regulate peripheral immune responses was unpopular during the era of 'suppressor skepticism' in the late 1980s, but this has now been resurrected.
Leukocytes are arrested on endothelial cells before moving through vessel intercellular junctions. The identification of another β2 integrin–dependent step may provide insights into the events and signals required for transmigration.
The regulated expression of Rag genes in lymphocytes ensures the expression of a single antigen receptor on the lymphocyte surface. It now seems that a complex 'ballet' of activating and silencing elements controls the precise timing of Rag expression in thymocytes.
HIV-1 is unable to infect cells from most nonhuman primates. In a recent Nature paper, a cellular protein of monkey cells, TRIM5α, was shown to be responsible for this inhibition.
One of the hallmarks of cystic fibrosis is the propensity of patients to develop lung infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which eventually compromises lung function. New data suggest loss of CFTR impairs lipoxin production, thus preventing resolution of lung inflammation and creating an environment susceptible to further infection.
Given the right sequence of cues, embryonic stem cells can develop into any cell type found in the body. New work shows how manipulation of supportive stromal cells to provide essential Delta-Notch interactions allows embryonic stem cells to develop into functional T lymphocytes during in vitro culture.
Anergy induction initiates a transcription program involving the upregulation of several ubiquitin ligases (E3s). New data show how these E3s contribute to the establishment of anergy.
Natural killer cells are kept in check by their inhibitory receptors. Data now indicate that these receptors can bind ligands that are next to them on the same cell surface, with unexpected functional consequences.
When acetyl or methyl groups are added to histones, chromatin structure and gene expression are altered. The methyltransferase G9a can target the specific silencing of IFNB gene expression and blocking of V(D)J recombination.
Viral TH1 responses can positively regulate TH2 responses in a mouse model of allergen-induced lung inflammation. This helps explain why respiratory viral infections can exacerbate allergic TH2-type diseases.
Stimulation of activated T cells enhances their susceptibility to Fas-mediated cell death by an unknown mechanism. New data show that the distribution of Fas into lipid rafts may be the important step.
CD1 presents lipids to unique subsets of T cells, but how are these lipids loaded onto CD1? A series of three papers has shed light on the molecules that facilitate this process.