News & Comment

Sussan Nourshargh and colleagues outline a mechanism for the reverse transendothelial migration of neutrophils that they observe occurs more frequently in aged mice than in young mice.

Mitohormesis is observed in macrophages exposed to mitochondrial stress and contributes to repressing subsequent inflammatory responses.

A paper in Nature Immunology describes a new subset of fibroblastic reticular cells, defined by expression of Gremlin 1, in lymphoid tissues that maintain homeostasis of conventional dendritic cells and ensure proper T cell immunity.

Two studies provide detailed insight into SARS-CoV-2 pathology at the single-cell level.

Adrenergic signalling can suppress immune responses through effects on the vasculature that impede leukocyte migration.

The currently licensed mRNA vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 can elicit cross-neutralizing antibodies against B.1.351 variants of the virus, but are less potent against these variants.

New research published in Immunity suggests that the increased rigidity of cancer cells during metastasis can result in a biophysical vulnerability to killing by cytotoxic lymphocytes through a form of mechanosurveillance.

Clonal haematopoiesis — an expansion of blood cell clones due to advantageous somatic mutations — is linked to myocardial infarction. A new study shows that activation of the AIM2 inflammasome in clonally expanded macrophages exacerbates atherosclerosis by driving both proliferation and pyroptosis.

A recent study in Immunity explains the loss of T cells and consequent increased susceptibility to bacterial infection following severe tissue injury. Injury-induced AIM2 inflammasome activation causes expansion of a CD95L-expressing monocyte population, which leads to extrinsic T cell apoptosis.

Intestinal helminths can increase the lethality of a subsequent coinfection with neurotropic flaviviruses by activating tuft cells and type 2 immune mechanisms in the gut.

A recent study in Science describes how the innate immune sensor cGAS is inhibited by phosphorylation during mitosis to prevent an inflammatory response to self-DNA.

MAIT cells found to have central role in the induction of CD8⁺ T cell immunity in response to vaccination with ChAdOx1 adenoviral vectors.

Mutant p53 proteins can promote tumorigenesis by inhibiting the cGAS–STING signalling pathway and rendering tumours immunologically cold.

Enhanced levels of the pro-inflammatory lipid prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) in the ageing immune system cause metabolic changes in macrophages and microglia that are associated with chronic inflammation and impaired cognition. Inhibition of the PGE₂ receptor was shown to reduce brain inflammation and restore memory in mice.

A recent study in Immunity describes that mast cells can degranulate directly into the bloodstream to prime neutrophils for rapid extravasation at sites of tissue inflammation.

A vaccine based on liposome-formulated uracil-modified mRNA shows promise in mouse models of multiple sclerosis.

This preprint further characterizes a superantigen motif identified in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and evaluates a monoclonal antibody targeting this region that can neutralize live virus.

Two studies from the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine team describe the immune responses that develop in healthy adults following a single dose or two doses of their adenovirus vector-based COVID-19 vaccine.

Two preprints describe a role for the RNA editor ADAR1 in recognizing Z-RNA to prevent spontaneous activation of the type I interferon pathway.

Wieland et al. report that the tumour microenvironment of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinomas contains HPV-specific B cells that actively secrete HPV-specific antibodies.