Published in Nature Immunology
How naive CD4+ T cells commit to the T helper type 2 (TH2) lineage is poorly understood. Here we show that the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor Dec2 was selectively expressed in TH2 cells. CD4+ T cells from Dec2-deficient mice showed defective TH2 differentiation in vitro and in vivo in an asthma model and in response to challenge with a...
Published in Nature immunology
Despite the paradigm that the innate immune system uses nucleic acid-specific receptors to detect viruses because of a lack of other conserved features, many viruses are recognized by Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR4. The relevance of this recognition for antiviral immunity remains largely unexplained. Here we report that TLR2 activation by vir...
Published in Nature Immunology
The evolution of immunodominant epitopes in HIV-1 Gag proteins correlates with quantitative measures of several antigen processing events. Thus, peptides recognized by CD8+ cytolytic T cells are selected by their ability to pass through the antigen processing pathway, as well as by their binding to HLA molecules.
Published in Nature Immunology
How the immune system responds to local infection and establishes protective immunity in susceptible tissues remains unclear. Two new studies show that local tissue-resident dendritic cells prime cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses and that memory cytotoxic T lymphocytes remain in the tissue to provide antiviral immunity.
Published in Nature Immunology
Effective immunity is dependent on long-surviving memory T cells. Various memory subsets make distinct contributions to immune protection, especially in peripheral infection. It has been suggested that T cells in nonlymphoid tissues are important during local infection, although their relationship with populations in the circulation remains poorly ...
Published in Nature Immunology
T cell expansion and contraction during the immune response to pathogens are regulated by a wide variety of cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic factors. A new study identifies a role for CTLA-4 signaling and activation of the Foxo3 transcription factor in modulating T cell populations.
Published in Nature immunology
The mechanisms by which cytokine signals prevent the activation and mitochondrial targeting of the proapoptotic protein Bax are unclear. Here we show, using primary human eosinophils, that in the absence of the prosurvival cytokines granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin 5, Bax spontaneously underwent activation and initia...
Published in Nature Immunology
Although immunological research is of only recent origin in India, it is nevertheless rapidly becoming an area of choice for young researchers in this country.
Published in Nature Immunology
A major challenge in vaccinology is to prospectively determine vaccine efficacy. Here we have used a systems biology approach to identify early gene 'signatures' that predicted immune responses in humans vaccinated with yellow fever vaccine YF-17D. Vaccination induced genes that regulate virus innate sensing and type I interferon production. Comput...
Published in Nature Immunology
Macrophages infected with attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Ra become apoptotic, which limits bacterial replication and facilitates antigen presentation. Here we demonstrate that cells infected with H37Ra became apoptotic after the formation of an apoptotic envelope on their surface was complete. This process required exposure of phos...
