Research Highlights

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is associated with CD4⁺ T cells that are specific for the C9orf72 autoantigen and preferentially produce IL-4, IL-5 and IL-10.

Group 2 innate lymphoid cells are crucial for maintaining nerve structure and pain thresholds.

A proteotoxic stress response specific to exhausted T cells represents a target for cancer immunotherapy.

Depending on context and concentration, the polyamine cadaverine can promote pro- or anti-inflammatory macrophage polarizations.

A study in Science Immunology reports that regulatory T cells in the skin modulate neuronal tone directly through their production of the opioid enkephalin.

Populations of regulatory KIR⁺CD8⁺ T cells expand during pregnancy and can promote maternal tolerance to the developing fetus.

B cells that expand following infection with EBV can colonize the brain, where they recruit activated T cells that have potential to cause neuronal damage, thereby providing a mechanism to explain the link between EBV and increased MS risk.

A study by Bhattarai et al. in Nature Immunology reports that ILC3-to-ILC1 plasticity in the gut is regulated by circadian clock proteins.

Exercise promotes changes in the gut microbiota that enhance anti-tumour T cell responses.

The antitumoural effects of BCG can be vastly improved by combining it with β-glucan. The combination therapy enhances granulopoiesis and trains neutrophils to resist conversion into a protumoural phenotype in a mouse model of bladder cancer.

Maternal obesity during pregnancy promotes a form of fatty liver disease in offspring that is dependent on HIF1α-mediated rewiring of Kupffer cell metabolism.

White et al. show that microbiota-specific T cells are licensed by gut inflammation to infiltrate the central nervous system, where cross-reactivity with self-antigens leads to neuropathology.

A study describes how maternal immune activation can lead to neurodevelopmental deficits in offspring, through a mechanism involving granzyme B release by decidual natural killer cells.

Five recent papers identify the RORγt⁺ antigen-presenting cells that induce food-antigen-specific regulatory T cells and establish food tolerance.

Two new studies describe populations of neurons in distinct brain regions that respond to IL-17 family cytokines and IL-10 to regulate social and anxiety-like behaviours.

Microglia are not confined to the central nervous system but are also present in the periphery, wrapped around large neuronal somas of humans and larger animals but not small animals like mice.

A prospective observational study of human immune responses to vaccination after early-life antibiotic exposure shows that neonatal exposure reduces the immune response to several vaccine antigens and results in more rapid waning of protection.

Neutrophils not only kill invading microorganisms but also help to prevent their entry into tissues in the first place.

A study shows that transient blockade of type I interferon signalling during T cell priming enhances the generation of stem cell-like memory CD8⁺ T cells after viral infection and mRNA vaccination.

Nelson et al. report that lung-resident IgG1⁺ memory B cells class-switch to IgE to mediate airway hypersensitivity in asthma.