Reviews & Analysis

Following muscle injury, changes in the stages of muscle growth coincide with changes in the phenotype and activation status of leukocytes that enter the site of muscle damage. As described in this Review, complex and coordinated crosstalk between immune cells and muscle cells determines the success or failure of muscle regeneration.

This Review describes how different modes of cell death protect against bacterial and viral infections, and the complex signalling crosstalk between the different pathways during an infection.

This Review focuses on the protective and pathological roles of different T cell subsets in the central nervous system (CNS). The authors explain how effector, memory and regulatory T cell populations are primed and recruited to the CNS, and discuss the plasticity of these populations, particularly in the context of viral infection and autoimmunity.

Severe haemorrhagic fever is a feature of infection with both Ebola and Lassa viruses, but differences in the immune responses induced by infection in each case may have important implications for the development of specific therapies and vaccines.

Disease tolerance is a defence strategy that functions by improving tissue repair or by reducing the detrimental effect of inflammatory signals to prevent the harmful effects of pathogens. This Review describes the mechanisms underlying disease tolerance to infections and how these can be targeted therapeutically.