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Advances in microscopy and labelling technologies have provided new opportunities for visualizing host–pathogen interactions in action. This Review highlights some of the insights gained from imaging immune responses to pathogens in the context of intact tissues.
A lot of recent research has focused on T helper 17 (TH17) cells, but their function in the tumour microenvironment has remained controversial. This Review examines the roles of TH17 cells in tumour immunity and discusses the potential of targeting this subset for cancer therapy.
T helper 2 (TH2) cells have a central role in protection against helminth infections but are also responsible for the development of asthma and other allergic inflammatory diseases. This Review provides a comprehensive overview of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the initiation and amplification of TH2-type immune responses in vivo.
This Review discusses recent studies that have identified inositol-1,3,4,5-tetrakisphosphate as a soluble messenger molecule that is essential for the development and function of T cells, B cells and neutrophils through regulating phosphoinositide 3-kinase function and Ca2+mobilization.
B cells are best known for their ability to produce antibody, but they also contribute to immunity by other mechanisms. Here, the authors argue for the existence of distinct populations of effector and regulatory B cells and discuss how these can modify CD4+T cell responses.
As a key regulator of the actin cytoskeleton, Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) is involved in diverse immune responses, including leukocyte migration and activation. This Review describes how various mutations in mice and humans have led us to a greater appreciation of the many immunological functions of WASP.
Although the vast numbers of commensal organisms that reside in the human gut are essential for health, they pose a continuous threat of invasion. The intestinal immune system has evolved unique immunological adaptations that help to maintain intestinal homeostasis.
The anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) has a central role in limiting inflammatory responses to protect against excessive tissue damage. Recent evidence suggests that many types of immune cell can produce IL-10, but how is its transcription regulated in these different cell types?
How are memory cells maintained? In this Review, the authors discuss the emerging role of mesenchymal stromal cells — which organize defined numbers of dedicated survival niches for different types of memory lymphocytes — in the maintenance of immunological memory.
The intestinal epithelium expresses several Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which are crucial to its effective barrier function and repair following injury. But epithelial cell TLR signalling must be carefully controlled as its dysregulation has been linked to inflammation-associated colorectal cancers.
Here, the authors review the fast-moving field of gene expression regulation by microRNAs. They describe how microRNAs influence many stages of innate and adaptive immune responses and how they might precipitate cancer and autoimmune disease if dysregulated.
This Review describes how microbial or self DNA that enters the cytoplasm can be detected by various mechanisms and triggers a range of cellular responses. These include the induction of antiviral innate immune responses and inflammasome-dependent caspase-1 activation and pyroptotic cell death.
The most recently described member of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) family, IL-33, as described in this Review, has an important role in immune regulation, as well as in infectious and inflammatory diseases, and thereby could have therapeutic potential.
This Review provides a comprehensive and contemporary overview of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) family: their expression and regulation, their effects on innate immune cells, their regulation of adaptive immune responses and their roles in immune-mediated diseases.
In this Review, the authors illustrate how computational modelling can complement experimental research to understand highly complex signalling networks in T cells. They explain how computational approaches can help to eliminate incorrect hypotheses, generate new hypotheses, reveal gaps in our knowledge and design better experiments.
This Review article describes the variety of mechanisms that regulate the production of protein and lipid mediators of inflammation through effects on translation initiation and mRNA decay, with an emphasis on mechanisms that link the initiation and resolution phases of inflammation.
The soil nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans is easy to manipulate genetically and is therefore a useful model organism. But C. elegansdoes not use its Toll-like receptor homologue for immune defence. So what can it tell us about the origins and functions of other immune defence pathways in higher organisms?
