Annual Review of Immunology [Vol 24 Apr 2006]

In Brief
Viral immunity: Turning off class switching
Transplantation: Soluble CD154 initiates rejection
Vaccines: Learning from our successes
T-cell memory: Location, location, location

In the news
T-cell vaccine for MS
T-cell memory: Less is more
Regulatory T cells: Getting down to the specifics

In Brief
T cells: De novo generation of IL-17-producing T cells
T-cell development: Life and death with the IAN family

Top of pageReviews
DNA damage: a trigger of innate immunity but a requirement for adaptive immune homeostasis
Yang Xu
This article provides an overview of the mechanisms by which eukaryotic cells sense and respond to chromosomal double-stranded DNA breaks and describes the importance of this response for the development of lymphocytes and the development of effective innate and adaptive immune responses.

MHC class II proteins and disease: a structural perspective
E. Yvonne Jones, Lars Fugger, Jack L. Strominger and Christian Siebold
MHC class II molecules are important factors that contribute to the susceptibility of an individual to autoimmune disease. Jones and colleagues look for clues to their involvement in disease by analysing crystal structures of peptide–MHC-class II complexes.

ITAM-mediated tonic signalling through pre-BCR and BCR complexes
John G. Monroe
This Review describes how tonic signalling — ligand-independent signalling from Ig–Ig-containing receptors, such as the pre-B-cell receptor (pre-BCR) and BCR — differs from ligand-dependent signalling and then outlines recent advances in our understanding of how tonic signalling is initiated and regulated.

Regulatory T cells, tumour immunity and immunotherapy
Weiping Zou
Regulatory T cells have a role in suppressing immune responses against tumours. Here, Weiping Zou reviews the nature of these cells, how they affect current therapeutic protocols and the ways in which their effects can be modified to improve antitumour immunity.

Caspases at the crossroads of immune-cell life and death
Richard M. Siegel
The caspase family has traditionally been divided into two groups: those involved in regulating apoptosis and those involved in regulating inflammation. However, as discussed in this Review, recent data indicate that capases can also regulate immune-cell development, activation and differentiation.

Neural regulation of innate immunity: a coordinated nonspecific host response to pathogens
Esther M. Sternberg
Evidence for crosstalk between the central nervous system and innate immune cells is accumulating. As discussed by Esther Sternberg, neural factors that first amplify and then temper pro-inflammatory responses have a crucial role in pathogen defence and in preventing toxic shock.

Top of pagePerspective
Opinion
Diversification of T-helper-cell lineages: finding the family root of IL-17-producing cells
Chen Dong
Chen Dong proposes that the recently identified subset of CD4+ T cells that produce interleukin-17 represent a distinct lineage of inflammatory T helper (TH) cells that develop independently of the cytokines and transcription factors that regulate TH1- and TH2-cell differentiation.

Correspondence
Glucocorticoid treatment of patients with SARS: implications for mechanisms of immunopathology
Nirmal S. Panesar

Author Reply: Glucocorticoid contribution to lymphopaenia and immunpathology in patients with SARS

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