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News & Views |
Mobile delivery of COVID-19 vaccines improved uptake in rural Sierra Leone
A trial that took mobile health services to rural Sierra Leone finds that this initiative increased COVID-19 vaccine uptake. But more must be done to expand the coverage of health services in low-income countries.
- Alison Buttenheim
- & Harsha Thirumurthy
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News |
Deadly brain cancer shrinks after CAR-T therapy — but for how long is unclear
Early studies with engineered immune cells show drastic but often short-lived results in glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain cancer.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Massive public-health experiment sends vaccination rates soaring
The rate of vaccination against COVID-19 rose sharply in villages in Sierra Leone where health officials held mobile vaccination clinics.
- Max Kozlov
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Article |
AIRE relies on Z-DNA to flag gene targets for thymic T cell tolerization
Z-DNA anchors the AIRE-mediated transcriptional program by enhancing the generation of double-stranded breaks and promoter poising.
- Yuan Fang
- , Kushagra Bansal
- & Diane Mathis
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Article |
Rapid unleashing of macrophage efferocytic capacity via transcriptional pause release
Macrophages are revealed to adopt a polymerase II pause/release process to effectively deal with ingested apoptotic corpses and for continuous efferocytosis.
- Turan Tufan
- , Gamze Comertpay
- & Kodi S. Ravichandran
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Article |
Dopamine receptor D2 confers colonization resistance via microbial metabolites
In a mouse model of enteric pathogen infection, tryptophan metabolites protect against infection via activation of dopamine receptor D2 and regulation of actin cytoskeletal organization in intestinal epithelial cells.
- Samantha A. Scott
- , Jingjing Fu
- & Pamela V. Chang
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Article |
Structures and activation mechanism of the Gabija anti-phage system
Structures of complexes containing GajA and GajB proteins of the prokaryotic Gabija anti-phage defence system reveal the mechanism of its activation after DNA cleavage upon ATP depletion.
- Jing Li
- , Rui Cheng
- & Longfei Wang
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News |
Blockbuster obesity drug leads to better health in people with HIV
Semaglutide reduces weight and fat accumulation associated with the antiretroviral regimen that keeps HIV at bay.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News Explainer |
First cell therapy for solid tumours heads to the clinic: what it means for cancer treatment
Therapy built on tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes is now being prepared for at least 20 people in the United States with advanced melanoma.
- Sara Reardon
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News & Views |
Interactions between immune cells recorded
Direct interactions between cells in tissue are incompletely understood because the advanced technologies required to examine them are still in their infancy. A new method can decipher cell–cell interactions on a large scale.
- Michael A. Wheeler
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Article |
Universal recording of immune cell interactions in vivo
A paper reports the development of a universal tool for studying cellular interactions in biological systems, and demonstrates its coupling with single-cell transcriptomics methods to provide insights into the biology of the interactions.
- Sandra Nakandakari-Higa
- , Sarah Walker
- & Gabriel D. Victora
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News |
Meningitis could be behind ‘mystery illness’ reports in Nigeria
The WHO confirms three meningitis deaths, which it says might have triggered rumours of an outbreak of an unknown disease.
- Sarah Wild
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News |
Brazil’s record dengue surge: why a vaccine campaign is unlikely to stop it
A vaccine shortage and persistent sanitation problems threaten the success of the world’s first public vaccination campaign against dengue virus.
- Mariana Lenharo
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Spotlight |
Stealthy stem cells to treat disease
Gene-editing strategies that allow stem cells to evade the immune system offer hope for universal cell-replacement therapies.
- Elie Dolgin
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Article
| Open AccessThe CRL5–SPSB3 ubiquitin ligase targets nuclear cGAS for degradation
The ubiquitin proteasomal system degrades nuclear cGAS in cycling cells.
- Pengbiao Xu
- , Ying Liu
- & Andrea Ablasser
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Article
| Open AccessCompartmentalized ocular lymphatic system mediates eye–brain immunity
A study provides evidence for a shared lymphatic circuit that connects the posterior eye and the brain, allowing the generation of immune responses to protect the CNS against pathogens and tumours following intravitreal immunization.
- Xiangyun Yin
- , Sophia Zhang
- & Eric Song
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News Explainer |
‘Breakthrough’ allergy drug: injection protects against severe food reactions
A study suggests that the asthma treatment omalizumab can reduce the risk of dangerous allergic reactions to peanuts and other foods.
- Sara Reardon
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Comment |
Save lives in the next pandemic: ensure vaccine equity now
The proposed Pandemic Agreement must ensure that COVID-19 vaccine nationalism is never repeated; 290 scientists call for action.
- Colin Carlson
- , Daniel Becker
- & Alexandra Phelan
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News |
CAR-T therapy for multiple sclerosis enters US trials for first time
Hopes are high that engineered immune cells, which are already in use to treat blood cancer, will halt the progression of a degenerative autoimmune disorder.
- Asher Mullard
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Article
| Open AccessIL-10 constrains sphingolipid metabolism to limit inflammation
IL-10 exerts its anti-inflammatory activity in macrophages by increasing the expression of enzymes that promote fatty acid desaturation and downstream regulation of the transcription factor REL.
- Autumn G. York
- , Mathias H. Skadow
- & Richard A. Flavell
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News |
MEGA-CRISPR tool gives a power boost to cancer-fighting cells
A system that edits RNA rather than DNA can give new life to exhausted CAR T cells.
- Sara Reardon
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Article
| Open AccessB cells orchestrate tolerance to the neuromyelitis optica autoantigen AQP4
The immune system is tolerized against the neuromyelitis optica autoantigen AQP4 by thymic B cells, which present their endogenous AQP4 to AQP4-reactive thymocytes.
- Ali Maisam Afzali
- , Lucy Nirschl
- & Thomas Korn
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Review Article |
Natural killer cell therapies
This Review explores in detail the complexity of NK cell biology in humans and highlights the role of these cells in cancer immunity.
- Eric Vivier
- , Lucas Rebuffet
- & Valeria R. Fantin
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News & Views |
Smoking’s lasting effect on the immune system
It emerges from a study of human cells that smoking can influence certain immune responses to the same extent as can age or genetics. Smoking can alter the immune system in ways that persist long after quitting the habit.
- Yang Luo
- & Simon Stent
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Nature Podcast |
Smoking changes your immune system, even years after quitting
The lingering effect of cigarettes on T cell responses, and the Solar System's new ocean.
- Shamini Bundell
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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News |
Smoking scars the immune system for years after quitting
A cigarette habit and previous infection with a common virus both have important effects on the immune system.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
Bone marrow plasma cells require P2RX4 to sense extracellular ATP
We demonstrate the role of the ligand-gated purinergic ion channel P2RX4 in maintaining mouse plasma cells in their bone marrow niche.
- Masaki Ishikawa
- , Zainul S. Hasanali
- & Avinash Bhandoola
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Article |
Nuclear morphology is shaped by loop-extrusion programs
In neutrophil progenitor cells, stopping the process of loop extrusion by depleting nipped-B-like protein (NIPBL) results in the assembly of polymorphonuclear structures and the activation of a neutrophil-specific gene program.
- Indumathi Patta
- , Maryam Zand
- & Cornelis Murre
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Article |
Structure of human phagocyte NADPH oxidase in the activated state
The cryo-electron microscopy structure of the human phagocyte NADPH oxidase in the activated state provides insight into how cytosolic factors bind to and promote the activating conformational changes of NOX2, facilitating its efficient electron transfer.
- Xiaoyu Liu
- , Yiting Shi
- & Lei Chen
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Article
| Open AccessSmoking changes adaptive immunity with persistent effects
A survey of 136 factors that may influence cytokine secretion identify smoking, cytomegalovirus latent infection and body mass index as influential factors, with varying effects on innate and adaptive immunity.
- Violaine Saint-André
- , Bruno Charbit
- & Christophe Zimmer
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Research Highlight |
The immune markers that predict who can keep SARS-CoV-2 in check
People infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 cleared the virus more quickly if they had high levels of certain immune cells.
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Book Review |
The ‘Bill Gates problem’: do billionaire philanthropists skew global health research?
Personal priorities are often trumping real needs and skewing where charitable funding goes.
- Andy Stirling
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News |
Why a cheap, effective treatment for diarrhoea is underused
Actors posing as dads of sick children reveal the hidden motives behind doctors’ and pharmacists’ prescription decisions.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Review Article |
A break in mitochondrial endosymbiosis as a basis for inflammatory diseases
We suggest that as mitochondrial signals probably contribute to the homeostatic role of inflammation, dysregulation of these processes may lead to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, with increasing evidence pointing to the recent failure of endosymbiosis being crucial.
- Michael P. Murphy
- & Luke A. J. O’Neill
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News |
Turbocharged CAR-T cells melt tumours in mice — using a trick from cancer cells
Immune cells armed with a mutation first identified in cancer cells gain potency but don’t turn cancerous themselves.
- Asher Mullard
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Article |
Identification of direct connections between the dura and the brain
Arachnoid cuff exit points create openings in the arachnoid barrier enabling the drainage of cerebrospinal fluid and exchange of molecules and cells between the dura and the subarachnoid space, therefore physically connecting the brain and the dura.
- Leon C. D. Smyth
- , Di Xu
- & Jonathan Kipnis
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Article |
Naturally occurring T cell mutations enhance engineered T cell therapies
A study examines the effects of mutations that occur naturally in T cell cancers, reporting that such mutations can potentially be exploited to increase the potency of T cell therapies.
- Julie Garcia
- , Jay Daniels
- & Jaehyuk Choi
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Article
| Open AccessThe nuclear factor ID3 endows macrophages with a potent anti-tumour activity
The Kupffer cell lineage-determining factor ID3 selectively endows macrophages with the ability to phagocytose live tumour cells and orchestrate the recruitment, proliferation and activation of natural killer and CD8+ T lymphoid effector cells to restrict the growth of a variety of tumours.
- Zihou Deng
- , Pierre-Louis Loyher
- & Frederic Geissmann
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Research Highlight |
Surprise find: a blood-based immune system is discovered in the gut
Immune guardians called complement proteins are manufactured by gut cells and help to protect against pathogens.
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Nature Podcast |
Cervical cancer could be eliminated: here’s how
Two experts lay out the steps that need to be taken, and the challenges facing low- and middle-income countries.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Jennifer Gardiner
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News |
Why autoimmune disease is more common in women: X chromosome holds clues
Rogue antibodies are drawn to the protein–RNA coating on half of the X chromosomes in an XX cell.
- Elie Dolgin
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News Explainer |
Measles outbreaks cause alarm: what the data say
A drastic rise in infections in the United Kingdom and Europe follows a drop in vaccine uptake.
- Carissa Wong
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Editorial |
Research funders must join the fight for equal access to medicines
Pandemic treaty is a rare opportunity to ensure pandemic-related technologies are accessible and affordable to all.
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Comment |
Cervical cancer kills 300,000 people a year — here’s how to speed up its elimination
Without rapid change, the World Health Organization’s goals for tackling cervical cancer by 2030 will be missed. Four experts share ways to move the needle.
- Lynette Denny
- , Ishu Kataria
- & Kathleen M. Schmeler
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News |
Obesity drugs have another superpower: taming inflammation
The blockbuster medications that reduce body weight also reduce inflammation in organs such as the brain, raising hopes that they can treat Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News |
Syphilis microbe’s family has plagued humans for millennia
Ancient DNA recovered from Brazilian remains shows that treponemal diseases originated some 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.
- Ewen Callaway
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News Feature |
Can autoimmune diseases be cured? Scientists see hope at last
After decades of frustration and failed attempts, scientists might finally be on the cusp of developing therapies to restore immune ‘tolerance’ in conditions such as diabetes, lupus and multiple sclerosis.
- Cassandra Willyard
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Article
| Open AccessDeciphering cell states and genealogies of human haematopoiesis
An improved, single-cell lineage-tracing system, based on deep detection of naturally occurring mitochondrial DNA mutations with simultaneous readout of transcriptional states and chromatin accessibility, is used to define the clonal architecture of haematopoietic stem cells.
- Chen Weng
- , Fulong Yu
- & Vijay G. Sankaran
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Article
| Open AccessAutoreactive T cells target peripheral nerves in Guillain–Barré syndrome
Autoreactive T cells that target myelin antigens in the peripheral nerves are present in patients with the demyelinating form of Guillain–Barré syndrome, and these T cells are likely to contribute to disease pathophysiology.
- L. Súkeníková
- , A. Mallone
- & D. Latorre
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