Volume 13 Issue 10, October 2012

Like walking on a tightrope, immune responses balance the eradication of pathogens and collateral damage to the host. This month's Focus features a series of specially commissioned articles that discuss the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate this fine balance (http://www.nature.com/ni/focus/checksandbalances/). Artwork by Lewis Long.

Editorial

A balancing act

Basic checkpoints and redundant modulatory mechanisms allow immune responses that are both efficient against pathogens and safe to the host.

Editorial 18 Sept 2012

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Commentary

Maintaining system homeostasis: the third law of Newtonian immunology

Ronald N Germain
Commentary 18 Sept 2012

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Review Article

Metabolic checkpoints in activated T cells

Ruoning Wang
Douglas R Green
Review Article 18 Sept 2012
Restraint of inflammatory signaling by interdependent strata of negative regulatory pathways

Peter J Murray
Stephen T Smale
Review Article 18 Sept 2012
From IL-2 to IL-37: the expanding spectrum of anti-inflammatory cytokines

Jacques Banchereau
Virginia Pascual
Anne O'Garra
Review Article 18 Sept 2012
The price of immunity

Romina S Goldszmid
Giorgio Trinchieri
Review Article 18 Sept 2012

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Research Highlights

T cell quorum sensing with Hippo

Zoltan Fehervari
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Licensing the inflammasome

Zoltan Fehervari
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Inflammation and wound repair

Ioana Visan
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Anti-inflammatory signals

Ioana Visan
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Leptin and mTor

Laurie A. Dempsey
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Suppressing glial activation

Laurie A. Dempsey
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012

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News & Views

Securing the border: lymphotoxin, IL-23 and IL-22 keep out the bad guys and 'fatten' the homeland

The axis of lymphotoxin and its receptor LTβR influences the composition of the host gut microbiome, leading to excessive weight gain in hosts fed a high-fat diet.

Carles Ubeda
Eric G Pamer
News & Views 18 Sept 2012
Yoking OX40 to regulation of IL-9

The secretion of cytokines by helper T cells is affected by the cytokine environment and by costimulatory signals. Engagement of the receptor OX40 on T cells increases expression of the transcription factor TRAF6, activates the alternative transcription factor NF-κB pathway and induces the production of interleukin 9.

Ritobrata Goswami
Mark H Kaplan
News & Views 18 Sept 2012
The Foxp3 interactome: a network perspective of T_reg cells

Foxp3 protein complexes orchestrate the transcriptional network of regulatory T cells. The Foxp3 interactome is now identified and may act as a genetic switch that controls the differentiation of regulatory T cells.

Shohei Hori
News & Views 18 Sept 2012

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Research Highlights

MicroRNA-based resistance to malaria

Zoltan Fehervari
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Bridging inflammation in obesity

Zoltan Fehervari
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Circadian rhythms

Ioana Visan
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Pathogens and commensals

Ioana Visan
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
HVEM protects mucosa

Laurie A. Dempsey
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012
Nuclear silencing

Laurie A. Dempsey
Research Highlights 18 Sept 2012

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Article

Lymphotoxin regulates commensal responses to enable diet-induced obesity

Innate immune responses influence the composition of gut microbiota. Fu and colleagues show that weight gain incurred with high-fat diets is dependent on intact lymphotoxin signaling that regulates IL-23 and IL-22 production.

Vaibhav Upadhyay
Valeriy Poroyko
Yang-Xin Fu
Article 26 Aug 2012
Type I interferon induces necroptosis in macrophages during infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium

The role of type I interferon in bacterial infection is poorly understood. Sad and colleagues demonstrate that Salmonella-triggered production of type I interferon induces macrophage necroptosis, evasion of the immune response and dissemination of bacteria.

Nirmal Robinson
Scott McComb
Subash Sad

Focus:

A cross-journal web focus on necroptosis
Article 26 Aug 2012
Lymphoid priming in human bone marrow begins before expression of CD10 with upregulation of L-selectin

'Lymphoid priming' in human bone marrow is traditionally thought to begin with the expression of CD10 on CD34⁺ progenitors. Crooks and colleagues now demonstrate lymphoid priming in a subset of CD10^–CD34⁺ progenitors that are CD62L^hi.

Lisa A Kohn
Qian-Lin Hao
Gay M Crooks
Article 02 Sept 2012
A multiply redundant genetic switch 'locks in' the transcriptional signature of regulatory T cells

Transcription factor Foxp3 is essential for the development and function of regulatory T cells, but it does not act in isolation. Benoist and colleagues identify a quintet of factors that facilitate transcriptional regulation by Foxp3.

Wenxian Fu
Ayla Ergun
Christophe Benoist
Article 09 Sept 2012
OX40 signaling favors the induction of T_H9 cells and airway inflammation

T_H9 cells secrete copious amounts of IL-9, but how their generation is controlled remains poorly defined. Li and colleagues demonstrate that ligation of the costimulatory receptor OX40 potently generates T_H9 cells in a manner dependent on noncanonical NF-κB signaling.

Xiang Xiao
Savithri Balasubramanian
Xian Chang Li
Article 29 Jul 2012
Induction and molecular signature of pathogenic T_H17 cells

Exposure to interleukin 23 (IL-23) is required for the induction of pathogenic T_H17 cells. Kuchroo and colleagues show that IL-23-dependent induction of the cytokine TGF-β3 produces a molecular signature characteristic of highly pathogenic T_H17 cells.

Youjin Lee
Amit Awasthi
Vijay K Kuchroo

Collection:

Targeting IL-17 in inflammatory disease
Article 09 Sept 2012

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Resource

Molecular definition of the identity and activation of natural killer cells

Lanier and colleagues systematically define the transcriptome of mouse natural killer cells in several contexts, including activation states and relative to all other lymphocyte and myeloid populations profiled by the Immunological Genome Project consortium.

Natalie A Bezman
Charles C Kim
Christophe Benoist
Resource 19 Aug 2012
Transcription factor Foxp3 and its protein partners form a complex regulatory network

The transcription factor Foxp3 is essential for the function of regulatory T cells. Rudensky and colleagues show Foxp3 participates in large protein complexes that regulate gene expression of many of these components in self-reinforcing networks.

Dipayan Rudra
Paul deRoos
Alexander Y Rudensky
Resource 26 Aug 2012

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Focus

Checks and Balances in the Immune System

Five specially commissioned reviews and commentaries discuss the metabolic requirements of immune responses and the regulatory circuits that balance eradication of the pathogen with minimal collateral damage to the host.

Focus 01 Oct 2012

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Volume 13 Issue 10, October 2012

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Review Article

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