Newsletters

[Microbiology Spectrum] Researchers investigated whether Mycobacterium tuberculosis or the nontuberculous mycobacteria Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium smegmatis can inhibit the NLRP1 or pyrin inflammasomes. They showed that none of the mycobacteria consistently inhibit the NLRP1 inflammasome after it is activated by priming with lipopolysaccharide and treatment with 1G244 in human macrophages.

[Cornell Chronicle] A $13.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will support a Cornell-led effort to reveal the long-standing mystery of how immune cells communicate within living tissues across time and space, which could shape new approaches for treating inflammatory diseases, autoimmune disorders and infections.

[BBC News] An NHS hospital in the region has become the first in Europe to trial a new treatment for people with an incurable autoimmune condition. A research team at Peterborough City Hospital, run by North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, is leading the pioneering study to help people with systemic lupus erythematosus.

[Nature Medicine] Investigators evaluated the safety/feasibility of autologous, systemically administered trivalent T cells targeting the tumor-associated antigens WT1, PRAME, and survivin in children with central nervous system tumors.

[Nature Communications] Scientists performed combined single-cell RNA-sequencing and TCR repertoire analyses on MR1/5-OP-RU tetramer-positive cells from neonatal cord blood and adult blood.

[Nature Immunology] Researchers interrogated the airway immune response at single-cell resolution in bronchoalveolar lavage from positron emission and computed tomography-characterized recent tuberculosis (TB) household contacts, who either controlled the infection or progressed to TB disease, as well as of patients with active TB at diagnosis.

[Nature Reviews Immunology] Originally developed for cancer therapy, T cell engagers are now being investigated for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, with promising initial results.

[Nature Immunology] Scientists explore immune signaling pathways in astrocytes, including pattern recognition through Toll-like receptors, nucleic acid sensors and inflammasomes.

[Science Translational Medicine] Investigators conducted a controlled, Phase I/IIa trial of combined bone marrow (BM) and regulatory T cell (Treg) therapy in HLA-mismatched living-donor kidney transplantation. Six patients received polyclonal recipient Treg cells and donor BM cells immediately posttransplant.

[Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy] The authors outline molecular mechanisms by which T cells regulate intestinal homeostasis and how the aging-associated dysfunction of T cells could disturb host–microbiota symbiosis and the physical integrity of the intestinal barrier, ultimately driving inflammaging and poor health outcomes.

[Journal of Neuroinflammation] Investigators integrated human genetics, patient immunophenotyping, and therapeutic evaluation in the experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis model.

[UCL News] A first-in-human clinical trial of an immune rejuvenation therapy designed to restore the function of worn-out T cells is expected to begin later this year, building on research led by University College London (UCL) scientists into the mechanisms of immune aging.