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This study found higher RSV antibody levels were associated with lower RSV risk in children outside the hospital. An earlier rise in incidence and higher incidence rates were observed among children <5 years compared to older children and adults.

The generation and maintenance of peri-implant fibrotic tissue requires skeletal cells expressing the leptin receptor and can be prevented and reversed via the functional inhibition of these cells.

Interleukin-18 (IL-18), a pyroptosis-related cytokine linking immunity and metabolism, regulates appetite, body weight and glucose homeostasis. IL-18 has paradoxical roles: its deficiency leads to obesity, whereas chronic signalling promotes liver fibrosis. Elevated in obesity and diabetes mellitus, IL-18 remains a compelling therapeutic target, with IL-18 binding protein showing anti-fibrotic potential in preclinical and early clinical studies.

A multi-modal analysis of pre-metastatic liver biopsies from patients with localized pancreatic cancer with a minimum of 3 years of follow-up shows that immunological, proliferative and metabolomic features distinguish patients who develop metastases from disease-free survivors and can be used to predict outcomes.

In this timely Review, the authors compare and contrast two forms of childhood inflammatory vasculitis: Kawasaki disease and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, highlighting epidemiological, clinical and immunological differences that suggest they should be classified as distinct syndromes.

Here, the authors summarize new insights into the pathogenesis of NAFLD and NASH, in particular the mechanisms responsible for liver injury and fibrosis. They highlight how a complex interplay between the environment (especially diet), host genetics and the gut microflora is crucial for the development and progression of NAFLD.

Peinado and colleagues show that small extracellular vesicles and secreted NGFR cargo induce lymphangiogenesis and develop the lymph node pre-metastatic niche to promote melanoma metastasis, which could be targeted pre-clinically with NGFR inhibition.

The translation of many messenger RNAs that encode important oncogenes and transcription factors depends on the eIF4A RNA helicase to resolve G-quadruplex structures, implying eIF4A inhibition as an effective cancer therapy.

This paper shows that gut flora can influence cardiovascular disease, by metabolizing a dietary phospholipid. Using a metabolomics approach it is found that plasma levels of three metabolites of dietary phosphatidylcholine—choline, betaine and TMAO—are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease in humans. The gut flora is known to have a role in TMAO formation from choline, and this paper shows that dietary choline supplementation enhances macrophage foam cell formation and lesion formation in atherosclerosis-prone mice, but not if the gut flora are depleted with antibiotics.

Currently, no pharmacological therapies are approved for the treatment of NASH. A new study now identifies CASP8 and FADD-like apoptosis regulator (CFLAR) as a novel suppressor of NASH and its associated disorders in a process dependent on the activation of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1).

Pulendran and colleagues delineated the mechanisms underlying the nonspecific antiviral effects exerted by the BCG vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 and reveal a pivotal role for BCG-specific CD4⁺ T cells that produce interferon-γ in imprinting a persistent antiviral innate program in the lung, mediating heterologous viral protection.

In the absence of reward, dopamine and acetylcholine levels in the striatum fluctuate in a phasic manner, with their dynamics autonomously organized by extra-striatal neurons.

This study shows that inactivation of Pml in the mouse prostate turns indolent Pten-null tumors into lethal metastatic disease. The authors identify an aberrant SREBP prometastatic lipogenic program and show that a high-fat diet induces lipid accumulation in prostate tumors and is sufficient to drive metastasis.

Pier Paolo Pandolfi and colleagues report that Dok family members, Dok1, Dok2 and Dok3, are lung tumor suppressors, as loss of Dok genes in mice leads to spontaneous lung adenocarcinoma. DOK2 is frequently deleted in human lung cancer and suppresses lung cancer cell growth.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) can affect both adults and children. As the incidence of obesity continues to increase in children and adolescents, so too does the occurrence of NAFLD in these pediatric patients. Here, Alisi and colleagues provide an overview of pediatric NAFLD, describing the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of these young patients.

This paper reports activation patterns for fMRI tasks assessing response inhibition, working memory and reward processing obtained at baseline in the longitudinal ABCD Study, providing a reference for research into adolescent brain development.

Children are generally resistant to severe disease resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection, but cases of pediatric COVID-19 and a new syndrome called MIS-C can occur. In this Review, the authors summarize what is known about the immunology of COVID-19 and MIS-C and how the pediatric response to SARS-CoV-2 is different from the immune response in adults.

Exosomes originating from lung-, liver- and brain-tropic tumour cells are preferentially incorporated by specific resident cells of the target organs, thus preparing the site for metastasis; the expression of distinct combinations of exosomal integrin proteins determines the exosomal targeting to each of the three organs, and blocking these integrins reduces organotropic exosome uptake by the target organs, thereby reducing the likelihood of organotropic metastasis.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is characterized by excess accumulation of fat in hepatocytes, which can be accompanied by inflammation, cell injury and fibrosis. Here, Brunt et al. explain the pathophysiology, the current limitations in management options and the avenues for progress.

A progressive movement disorder in a patient with multiple myeloma treated with anti-BCMA CAR-T cells that might have been related to on-target activity in the brain supports prospective neurologic monitoring after BCMA-targeting therapies.

Hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorder are associated with substantial harms to both the individual and others. This Primer discusses the epidemiology, mechanisms, diagnosis and management of these disorders, and also summarizes screening, prevention and the quality of life issues faced by individuals with these disorders.

Microvesicles—extracellular vesicles released by virtually all cells—are now implicated in key processes of liver diseases including fibrosis and complications of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. This Review describes studies assessing circulating microvesicle levels in patients with liver diseases, together with an insight into the mechanisms that could account for these changes. The potential of microvesicles as biomarkers in liver diseases is also discussed.

A mouse model of T-cell leukaemia is used to test whether PTEN loss is required for tumour maintenance as well as initiation; although it had little effect on tumour load in haematopoietic organs, PTEN reactivation reduced the CCR9-dependent tumour dissemination to the intestine that was amplified on PTEN loss, exposing the importance of tumour microenvironment in PTEN-deficient settings.

A mouse model shows that osteoblast activating β-catenin mutations alone are sufficient to initiate the development of acute myeloid leukaemia acting through increased Notch signalling.