Review Articles in 2012

Here, Joel Ernst proposes that there are distinct stages in the immune response toMycobacterium tuberculosisthat form an 'immunological life cycle'. The description of this framework can help the understanding and study of immunity to tuberculosis in humans and animal models.

Here, Paolo Casali and colleagues provide a comprehensive overview of the molecular mechanisms that drive immunoglobulin class-switch DNA recombination (CSR). They describe the signalling determinants of CSR specificity and the epigenetic modifications, transcriptional regulators and scaffold elements that direct the CSR machinery.

This Review looks at the regulation and functions of antimicrobial proteins in protecting epithelial surfaces from pathogen invasion and maintaining homeostasis with commensal microorganisms.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the activation of the innate immune system by host or microbial nucleic acids contributes to the immunogenicity of many vaccines. This article describes the receptors and signalling pathways that are involved in sensing nucleic acids and discusses the implications for current and future vaccination strategies.

Phagocytosis is an important innate defence mechanism, and there is more to this process than merely engulfing a pathogen. This Review discusses how myeloid cells integrate the various distinct signals that they receive during phagocytosis in order to promote an appropriate immune response to the threat at hand.

Ion channels and transporters, by modulating cytoplasmic concentrations of various cations, control key lymphocyte effector functions. Here, the authors review the roles of these proteins in lymphocytes and how they might interact to fine-tune cell responses.

It has long been known that infections and tissue damage can be detrimental for the survival of transplanted allografts but the underlying mechanisms that trigger both innate and adaptive immunity are only beginning to be understood and are reviewed here.

In this article, the importance of the peripheral production of complement in driving the immediate response of a transplanted organ to tissue stress and in the activation of alloreactive T cells is discussed, as well as the role of complement in antibody-mediated rejection. The authors also focus on new complement-targeted treatments for the prevention of transplant rejection.

Establishing immune tolerance in transplant recipients is essential for promoting the long-term survival of an allograft and for preventing the development of harmful graft-versus-host responses. This Review considers the clinical potential of manipulating different immunosuppressive cell populations, including regulatory T cells, B cells and macrophages, in the setting of transplantation.

Haematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is most frequently performed as a cancer therapy. However, more recently HCT has been used to treat patients with autoimmune diseases and to promote tolerance to other allografts. Here, the authors discuss the latest advances in HCT and the challenges still faced by researchers in the field.

Here, the authors review the most promising strategies for preventing or treating graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Approaches that target alloreactive T cells are often favoured, but those that exploit regulatory cell populations are now showing increasing success.

This article looks at the crosstalk between multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and innate immunity, ranging from haematopoiesis to antimicrobial defences.

Here, John MacMicking provides a broad overview of the recently described functional properties of interferon-inducible effector proteins that mediate cell-autonomous host defence against internalized bacteria, protozoa and viruses.

This Review argues against the historical view of the granuloma as a host-protective structure and provides evidence that the innate immune mechanisms of tuberculous granulomas are involved in the expansion and dissemination of infection.

In T cells, the kinase mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) integrates immune signals and metabolic cues to control T cell maintenance and activation. This Review describes the role of mTOR in determining T cell fate decisions and the implications of targeting mTOR in the treatment of disease.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the master regulators of T cell responses to foreign antigens. This Review discusses how the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily of molecules influences DC biology and the outcome for T cell immune responses.

Here, the authors discuss how the immune activities of myeloid cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells, are affected by the immunosuppressive tumour environment. They propose that tumours can evade the immune system by promoting aberrant differentiation and function of the entire myeloid system.

This article discusses how T cells promote antitumour immunity in patients with cancer. In certain cancer types, T cell populations that are isolated from tumours and expandedin vitrocan promote cancer remission when re-infused into patients. The authors explain the pros and cons of this type of immunotherapy.

In this Review article, the authors describe the mechanisms by which natural killer cells and natural killer T cells can promote tumour cell elimination. Furthermore, they discuss the new therapies that are being used to boost the antitumour properties of these cells in the clinic.

Here, the authors discuss what is known about the gene expression and chromatin modifications in memory T cells that make these cells distinct from naive T cells, and provide some opinions on the future direction of the field.