Research Highlights in 2012

IgG concentrations determine the binding orientation of IgG onS. pyogenesand thus opsonization and killing.

B-1a cells, neutrophils and pDCs cooperate to initiate type 1 diabetes.

EOMES and T-bet regulate the balance between T cell proliferation and cytotoxic function during chronic viral infection.

Antigen-coupled nanoparticles induce T cell tolerance and can attenuate autoimmune disease.

Colitis involves the cytokine-driven expansion and differentiation of HSCs and GMPs.

p40-specific antibodies ameliorate pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Pericytes interact with innate immune cells to promote their interstitial migration and effector functions.

Apoptotic microparticles in the serum of patients with HIV block dendritic cell activation.

Ca²⁺and cAMP, as well as NO, regulate the assembly of the NLRP3 inflammasome.

PAXIP1 controls transcription and double-strand break repair during thymocyte development.

Crosstalk between the complement and Notch systems regulates human T_H1 cell responses.

T_Reg cells enhance the avidity of CD8⁺T cell responses to foreign antigens.

Jenkins and colleagues identify a non-inflammatory role of TLR2 in gastric tumorigenesis.

The immune system protects against infectious endogenous retroviruses and associated tumour formation.

FOXO1 has a crucial role in the function of T_Regcells as well as in their commitment.

Wild mice carry a promoter polymorphism in an inhibitory receptor gene that predisposes towards autoimmune disease.

Expression of MHC class II molecules, CD40 and IL-21R by B10 cells is required for their regulatory function.

Alternative splicing of a hypervariable PRR confers pathogen specificity in insects.

Antigen–TCR affinity dictates effector T cell fate by determining the polarity of T cell divisions.

T cell receptor activation thresholds increase with age in naive CD4⁺T cells owing to a loss of miR-181a expression.