Articles in 2017

HLA class I homozgosity and loss of heterozygosity are associated with poor response to checkpoint blockade therapy.

Over the past few years, interest in the field of neuroimmunology has expanded dramatically, thanks largely to new technologies that have advanced our understanding of the intimate connections between the nervous and immune systems¹. Here, we highlight key advances in 2017 that have defined new roles for microglia in brain maintenance, for cytokines as neuromodulators and for the immune system in peripheral nerve activity.

Heeding the adage “prevention is better than cure”, Olivera J. Finn proposes that vaccinating individuals who have pre-malignant lesions gives the immune system the upper hand and can prevent progression to cancer.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells diversify in response to a single stimulus.

IL-1 is released from living macrophages by gasdermin D pore formation.

Death of the retinal epithelium in age-related macular degeneration involves cGAS-dependent noncanonical inflammasome activation.

The development of multiphoton intravital microscopy has enabled detailed studies of humoral responses within lymphoid tissues. Here, Kuka and Iannacone cover recent studies of the viral subversion of B cell responses and discuss how these findings relate to our understanding of B cell activation within secondary lymphoid organs.

Platelets actively migrate at inflamed sites and can collect and bundle bacteria and promote neutrophil activation.

In 2017, studies of cellular metabolism broadly permeated immunological research. Accumulating data support the view that understanding how metabolism regulates immune cell function could provide new therapeutic opportunities for the many diseases associated with immune system dysregulation.

Recent studies showing that neoantigens are crucial targets of the antitumour immune response have supported the progression of personalized cancer vaccines to clinical trials.

Chemotaxis of myeloid cells in response to CCL19 and CXCL12 involves temporal sensing of an increasing source concentration of chemokine.

Over the past 2 years, Zika virus (ZIKV) has emerged as a pathogen capable of causing devastating congenital malformations in the developing fetus and significant neurological disease in adults. In 2017, substantial progress has been made towards the development, immunological analysis and preclinical evaluation of vaccine platforms to prevent the pathologies associated with ZIKV infection.

Eric Vivier recounts how the initial description of the ITIM motif in FcγRIIB helped to launch the field of inhibitory immune receptors.

This Review describes recent advances in our understanding of the ontogeny, development and function of brain-resident macrophages and microglia, including their normal functions during brain development and homeostasis and how disturbance of these functions may precipitate neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases.

Lysosomal calcium signalling links antigen uptake by tissue dendritic cells to migration to the lymph nodes.

HLA variation or loss is associated with immune editing in human tumours.