Review Articles

Here, Raffatellu and co-workers discuss our growing understanding of how primary bile acids (which are cholesterol-derived molecules synthesized in the liver) and secondary bile acids (which are primary bile acids that have been microbially modified) shape immune responses in health and disease, with a particular focus on bile acids and intestinal immunity.

This Review by Arnold and Munitz discusses the diverse roles of eosinophils in the settings of tissue homeostasis, infection, allergy and cancer. The authors explain the molecular mechanisms that enable eosinophils to adapt to diverse tissue types and conditions, and they consider the therapeutic potential of eosinophil-depleting drugs in the clinic.

Here, the authors review the single-cell sequencing studies of rheumatic and allergic diseases, providing insight into disease pathogenesis, biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Malaria remains a devastating human disease. Although malaria vaccines are available, their limited efficacy and protective duration are problematic. In this Review, the authors discuss how immunoregulatory networks that likely develop to prevent disease during malaria may also impede prevention and control measures.

Recent clinical studies show that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, best known for treating B cell malignancies, can be used to treat patients with various B cell-driven autoimmune diseases. Here, the authors update us with the progress so far and the considerations for further improving and extending their therapeutic application.

This Review provides a guide to the memory cells of the adaptive immune system, comprising memory T cells, memory B cells and plasma cells; it covers their formation, function, heterogeneity, localization, regulation and maintenance, and the crucial technological advances that allowed their discovery.

This Review from Comerford and McColl discusses recent advances that have been made in understanding the biology of the atypical chemokine receptor (ACKR) family. The authors explain how these receptors interact with their ligands to shape immune responses and also highlight potential new additions to the ACKR family.

Compared with many other vaccines, current vaccines against influenza provide only limited protection. Here, the authors describe the challenges and recent attempts at generating T cell-based vaccines. It may be important to combine T cell-based vaccines with antibody-based vaccines to provide long-lasting immunity across influenza virus strains.

An optimal immune response to influenza virus strikes a balance between protective antiviral immune mechanisms and detrimental immunopathology. Here, the authors review the immune mechanisms responsible for each side of this balance and how this may inform future vaccine design.

Here, Rongbin Zhou and colleagues review the different types of damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) that trigger sterile inflammation via pattern recognition receptors. The authors group these DAMPs on the basis of whether they arise from inside cells, from neighbouring cells or from distant tissues, and they discuss the relevance of such DAMPs in various inflammatory disease settings.

This Review discusses the mechanisms by which common alterations of cancer cell metabolism interfere with immune functions to promote immunoevasion and tumour progression, and avenues to target such alterations for therapeutic purposes.

In this Review, the authors discuss recent advances, current challenges and future prospects in exploiting both vertebrate and invertebrate immune systems for the control of flaviviral and alphaviral diseases.

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are microbial metabolites that regulate mucosal barrier integrity and immune cell functions. This Review summarizes latest insights into how SCFA levels might determine inflammatory and allergic disease outcomes by controlling the crosstalk between diet, the microbiome and immunity.

Haematological malignancies are associated with inflammation in the bone marrow. In this Review, the authors discuss how tumour-associated inflammation affects the normal functions of the bone marrow and supports the outgrowth and survival of malignant cells. Moreover, they describe how the inflammatory changes in the bone marrow differ in myeloid and lymphoid malignancies.

This Review explains how cytokines contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The author highlights the cytokine-targeting drugs that are already being successfully used in the clinic and discusses the potential of other cytokine-modulating drugs in IBD.

Acute infection and other insults cause extensive remodelling in the bone marrow to drive the production of new blood cells, often prioritizing the production of mature myeloid cells at the expense of other blood cell types. Here, the authors describe how haematopoiesis is affected by acute demand and how this can contribute to inflammatory disease and cancer when dysregulated.

Immune responses to pathogens and self-antigens show sex-based differences, with female individuals generally more susceptible to autoimmunity and male individuals more vulnerable to infections. In this Review, the authors explore the role of hormones and genetics in shaping immune responses, and discuss genetic and epigenetic contributions to altered X-linked gene expression that affect immune responses.

In this Review, the authors discuss the origins of regulatory T (T_reg) cells in the periphery and the mechanisms by which T_reg cells are induced, as well as the regulation of the suppressive function of these cells. Moreover, they examine evidence for and  mechanisms of T_reg cell dysfunction in common autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis.

This Review highlights new insights into the biology of inflammasomes from the perspective of structural and mechanistic studies, revealing how the supramolecular complexes that activate inflammatory caspases are assembled and regulated, to induce cytokine maturation and release, as well as pyroptotic cell death.

The first immune-targeted drug for type 1 diabetes (T1D), teplizumab, received regulatory approval by the US FDA in 2022. In this Review, Herold, Walker and colleagues examine the immune mechanisms that underpin T1D and provide an overview of immune-targeted strategies for T1D that are currently in development.