●TRIMming HIV-1's mainsail. Stevenson, M. Nature Immunology April (2004). In this News & Views article, Mario Stevenson discusses the recent finding that the monkey protein TRIM5α can prevent infection of non-human primates with HIV-1 by interfering with reverse transcription of viral cDNA. TRIM5α joins APOBEC3G as a host retroviral-restriction factor.

●The future of gene therapy. Cavazzano-Calvo, M., Thrasher, A. & Mavilio, F. Nature 26 February (2004) What can be done to restore confidence in gene therapy? The authors look at the lessons to be learnt from the development of leukaemia-like symptoms in two patients with severe combined immunodeficiency who were treated by retroviral transduction of bone-marrow stem cells.

●The evolution of thalidomide and its IMiD derivatives as anticancer agents. Bartlett, J. B., Dredge, K. & Dalgleish, A. G. Nature Reviews Cancer April (2004) Chemical modification of thalidomide has created a series of immunomodulatory drugs, without the original devastating side effects, that are now emerging as useful anticancer agents.

●Targeting IL-1 in inflammatory disease: new opportunities for therapeutic intervention. Braddock, M. & Quinn, A. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery April (2004)

●Case of mistaken identity. Bassing, C. H. & Alt, F. W. Nature 4 March (2004) This News & Views article describes how RAG — the protein responsible for somatic rearrangement of antigen-receptor genes in T and B cells — can cut single-stranded DNA at other sites of the genome, potentially resulting in the formation of cancer-causing translocations.

●Media attack prompts editorial backlash against MMR study. Giles, J. Nature 26 February (2004)

●Embedding T cells in the matrix. Selin, L. K. & Cornberg, M. Nature Medicine April (2004) A discussion of recent work describing how pathogen-specific memory T cells are retained and survive in peripheral tissues, such as the lungs, through upregulation of expression of the adhesion molecule VLA1.

●Doctors battle to contain AIDS epidemic as unrest engulfs Haiti. Check, E. Nature 4 March (2004) This news piece looks at the effect of the current political crisis in Haiti — where 6% of adults are infected with HIV — on efforts to stem the AIDS epidemic.

●Delivering on the promise: HPV vaccines and cervical cancer. Schiller, J. T. & Davies, P. Nature Reviews Microbiology April (2004) This Science & Society article discusses some of the many interesting ethical and social questions associated with the availability of a vaccine against a sexually transmitted, cancer-causing viral infection.