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Systems approaches applied to human and nonhuman primate cohorts revealed that the transcription factor CREB1 (cAMP-responsive element-binding protein 1) may be a key driver of human immunodeficiency virus 1 vaccine-induced immunity.
The T helper subset paradigm has been instrumental in informing our understanding of T cell diversity; however, modern single-cell analyses have revealed the limits of the concept. In their Perspective, Becher and colleagues propose an alternative framework in which to understand T helper diversity, based not on transcription factors and cytokines but rather physiological functionality.
Environmental allergens trigger activation of the ripoptosome in epithelial cells, which mediates the initial allergic response via intracellular processing and release of the alarmin IL-33 and represents a newly identified mechanism for epithelial allergen sensing.
Corbett et al. use the rhesus macaque model to evaluate the ability of the mRNA-1273 (Moderna) COVID-19 vaccine to protect against challenge with the antibody-evading Beta variant of SARS-CoV-2. Their key finding is that the vaccine prevents severe lung pathology, principally because it is able to induce a strong enough antibody resistance to overcome the variant’s relative resistance.
Schwartz and colleagues review the immune niches in the brain, the contribution of professional immune cells to brain functions and the relevance of immune components to brain aging and neurodegenerative disease.
CD8+ resident memory T (TRM) cells from different tissues form a heterogeneous population. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-independent CD103– TRM cells in the liver retain the ability to move to barrier tissues or return to secondary lymphoid organs.
Autoimmune inflammation and disease creates an environment that results in defective regulatory T (Treg) cell functions. New data show how induction of Foxp3 expression in these Treg cells during ongoing autoimmune inflammation can restore control over pathogenic T cell functions and resolve inflammation and pathology in mice.
Inhibition of ferroptosis via selenium supplementation promotes the survival of follicular helper T cells, boosting the germinal center and antibody response following vaccination in mice and people.
Tissue-resident alveolar macrophages promote early tumor invasiveness and induction of immunosuppressive regulatory T cells in non-small cell lung carcinoma.
T cell receptor–independent triggering of T cells is known as bystander activation. Shin and colleagues review the mechanisms and significance of bystander activation to homeostatic antimicrobial responses and immunopathology.
Analysis of the transcriptional landscape of inflammatory neutrophils discloses specific transcription factor engagement at the bone marrow–to-blood and the blood-to-tissue transitions.
Following clearance of chronic infections, virus-specific CD8+ T cells recover a subset of memory-related transcriptome features. Yet their unique open chromatin landscape largely reflects an exhausted or dysfunctional state, limiting their protective memory potential.
New reports provide further insight into the role of the transcription factor BATF in pivoting the differentiation of CD8+ T cells away from T cell exhaustion and facilitating the transition of these cells into potent effectors.
By engaging Toll-like receptor 2, translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) released from necrotic tumor cells can switch on an immunosuppressive network of monocytic and polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells to block antitumor immunity.
Lung fibroblastic stromal cells support inflating memory CD8+ T cells after vaccination with an adenovirus vector through the creation of organized lymphoid structures that support the metabolic fitness of these expanded antigen-specific T cells.
Meta-analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing datasets identifies core fibroblasts present in all organs that may give rise to more specialized organ-specific subtypes.
A multimodal proteomic analysis of the perturbations that SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV induce in infected human lung epithelial cells reveals common and distinct immune-evasive and pathobiological mechanisms used by these coronaviruses.
Effective anticancer adoptive cellular therapy (ACT) requires sufficient infiltration of injected cytotoxic lymphocytes, but pathophysiology frustrates this. Regulator of G protein signaling 1 limits T cell trafficking to breast tumors and may be targeted to improve ACT.
Sharpe and colleagues review salient aspects of CD8+ T cell dysfunction in cancer, chronic viral infections and autoimmunity, with a view of developing new ways to alleviate T cell exhaustion and enhance CD8+ T cell functions in cancer and chronic viral infection, as well as strategies to induce or augment exhaustion-like features to treat autoimmunity.
SARS-CoV-2 infection activates TLR2 signaling, which results in the robust expression of proinflammatory cytokines that may contribute to disease in severe COVID-19. Inhibition of this signaling pathway represents a potential target for COVID-19 therapeutics.
