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Kollias and colleagues examine the development of fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) during lymphoid organogenesis in gut Peyer’s patches (PPs). They show that PP FRCs develop from two separate mesenchymal cell lineages, which converge and form mosaic microenvironments that support immune cell activation and maintain intestinal homeostasis.

Ludewig and colleagues use fate-mapping reporter cells, single-cell RNA-seq analysis and high-resolution microscopy to identify and track the spatial reorganization of follicular reticular cells within germinal centers during the course of an immune response.

De Martin, Ludewig and colleagues define the topology and molecular identity of human tonsillar stromal cells and show that PI16-expressing fibroblastic reticular cells shape subepithelial niches for efficient T cell activation and differentiation.

Pikor et al. show that a set of conserved, bidirectional cues exchanged between fibroblastic reticular cells and immune cells sustain B cell niches, which control humoral immune responses across mouse and human lymphoid organs.

Perez-Shibayama et al. report that BMP4 signaling is downregulated in autoimmune myocarditis. Restoring BMP4 levels with antibodies that neutralize the BMP inhibitors gremlin-1 and gremlin-2 can ameliorate cardiac inflammation and improve function in mouse models.

Influenza infection during pregnancy can affect health of offspring but it is not clear how this affects immune responses. Here the authors use a mouse model to show that influenza infection during pregnancy can increase susceptibility to secondary infection and alter immune cell function in offspring.

Fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) support localisation of immune cells in secondary lymphoid tissues but less is known about the lamina propria. Here the authors use scRNA-seq and intestinal infection to characterise FRCs in the intestinal lamina propria and show specialised niches that foster innate lymphoid cells during homeostasis and infection.

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV)-based viral vectors have been shown to induce potent antitumor immune responses. Here the authors show that a LCMV-based vaccine vector remodels the tumor-associated fibroblastic stroma, sustaining CD8+ T cell activation and reducing tumor growth in a preclinical model of melanoma.

Morphogens such as chemokines form gradients to direct graded responses and modulate cell behaviors. Here the authors show, using imaging and computer simulation, that the chemokine CXCL13 originated from follicular reticular cells in the lymph nodes forms both soluble and immobilized gradients to regulate B cell recruitment and migration.

The white pulp of spleen is an important immune structure dynamically modulated during development and immune responses. Here the authors define, using multi-color lineage tracing and single-cell transcriptome analysis, the subset distribution and differentiation trajectory of fibroblastic reticular cells to serve structural insights for splenic white pulps.

Ludewig and colleagues show that adenovirus immunization fosters the formation of pulmonary immune-stimulating niches underpinned by fibroblastic stromal cells that maintain ‘inflating’ memory CD8⁺ T cells through the provision of interleukin-33.

Fibroblastic reticular cells (FRC) are important for lymph node (LN) structure and function. Here the authors show that the YAP/TAZ complex downstream of Hippo signalling regulates FRC commitment and maturation, with YAP/TAZ deficiency impairing FRC differentiation, while hyperactivation of YAZ/TAZ inducing myofibroblastic FRCs and LN fibrosis.

Lymph nodes expand after an inflammatory challenge to accommodate their increased cellularity. Turley and colleagues show that fibroblastic reticular cells regulate this expansion process through the interaction of podoplanin with its receptor CLEC-2 expressed on incoming dendritic cells.

Naive B and T cells exist in discrete zones in lymph nodes. Turley and colleagues demonstrate that a distinct subset of fibroblastic reticular cells reside in B cell zones, where they sustain B cell survival by providing BAFF.

Fibroblastic reticular cells influence the function of lymphocytes in secondary lymphoid organs. Ludewig and colleagues demonstrate that they also specifically restrain the activation of group 1 innate lymphoid cells in the presence of microbial stimulation to prevent immunopathology.