Volume 7 Issue 10, October 2007

Recent advances using genetic analysis in both insects and mammals have expanded our understanding of how the immune system senses viruses and initiates immune responses against them. But what are the biochemical pathways involved and how do immune cells work together to control viral infection?

Autophagy — a cellular process for recycling, remodelling or disposing of unwanted cytoplasmic constituents — is emerging as an important pathway in innate and adaptive immunity. This Review describes its role in pathogen defence, antigen processing and presentation, T-cell homeostasis and disease.

Fluctuations in cytosolic calcium concentrations affect numerous signals involved in the development and function of B cells. Recent advances have expanded our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the regulation of cytosolic calcium concentrations and how this influences B-cell fate.

The ability of dendritic cells to drive immune responses has led researchers to target these cells in vaccination therapy. Here, the authors review the development of the field, fromex vivo loading studies to in vivotargeting using specific receptors.

Endothelial cells, which line the blood and lymph vessels, control the movement of proteins from the blood into the tissue. However, as discussed here, these often overlooked cells are also active participants in and regulators of the inflammatory process.

Here, the authors propose a new mechanism of immune tolerance. It involves the production of the immunoregulatory enzyme IDO (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase) induced by reverse signalling and non-canonical nuclear factor-κB activation in dendritic cells interacting with regulatory-T-cell-expressed co-receptors.

Fifty years after F. Macfarlane Burnet published his seminal paper on the clonal-selection theory of antibody diversity, six key scientists provide their thoughts and opinions on how this theory was received and how it has helped to shape immunology as we know it today.