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The identification of elevated IL-6 levels in patients with severe COVID-19 led to the rapid development of clinical trials targeting this cytokine. Overall, these trials do not support the widespread use of IL-6 antagonists in hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate disease, but IL-6 antagonists may be beneficial when rapidly deployed in patients with severe COVID-19, as we discuss here.
This Comment discusses how the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern could impact on the hopes of long-term pandemic control through vaccination and the mutations that might be relevant to the design of modified vaccines.
A preprint by Gschwend et al. describes the intercellular crosstalk between alveolar type 2 epithelial cells and basophils via GM-CSF that directs the development and maintenance of alveolar macrophages.
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.
A preprint by Hasim et al. shows that tumour cell-derived PD1 can be acquired by natural killer cells through trogocytosis, which dampens their anti-tumour effector function.
In this Review, Lloyd and Hewitt describe our contemporary understanding of the airway epithelial cell landscape. They highlight the new epithelial cell types that have been recently discovered and explain how epithelial cells interact with the immune and nervous systems to shape immunity in the airways.
Metabolic pathways play a central role in determining the fate and function of immune cells, and cellular activation induces profound changes in their oxidation–reduction (redox) system. Here, Muri and Kopf examine the crosstalk between metabolic and redox pathways and discuss their role in the proliferation, survival and function in T cells, B cells and macrophages.
Peter Taylor and colleagues provide an overview of the neutralizing monoclonal antibody therapies that have been developed to target severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and discuss the clinical utility of these antibodies.
The duration of immunity to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from prior infection and longer-term risk of reinfection are currently unclear. Cromer and colleagues discuss the immune control of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and the implications of this for the future control of the pandemic.
