Immunology

A “suicide” BCG strain provides enhanced immunogenicity and robust protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in macaques

1. Alexander A Smith
2. Hongwei Su
3. Joshua Wallach
4. Yao Liu
5. Pauline Maiello
6. H Jacob Borish
7. Caylin Winchell
8. Andrew W Simonson
9. Philana Ling Lin
10. Mark Rodgers
11. Daniel Fillmore
12. Jennifer Sakal
13. Kan Lin
14. Valerie Vinette
15. Dirk Schnappinger
16. Sabine Ehrt
17. JoAnne L. Flynn

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Semi-synthetic glycoconjugate vaccine candidate against Cryptococcus neoformans

1. Conor J. Crawford
2. Livia Liporagi-Lopes
3. Carolina Coelho
4. Samuel R. Santos Junior
5. André Moraes Nicola
6. Maggie P. Wear
7. Raghav Vij
8. Stefan Oscarson
9. Arturo Casadevall

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Therapeutic DNA Vaccine Targeting Mycobacterium tuberculosis Persisters Shortens Curative Tuberculosis Treatment

1. Styliani Karanika
2. Tianyin Wang
3. Addis Yilma
4. Jennie Ruelas Castillo
5. James T. Gordy
6. Hannah Bailey
7. Darla Quijada
8. Kaitlyn Fessler
9. Rokeya Tasneen
10. Elisa M. Rouse Salcido
11. Harley T. Harris
12. Rowan E. Bates
13. Heemee Ton
14. Jacob Meza
15. Yangchen Li
16. Alannah D. Taylor
17. Jean J. Zheng
18. Jiaqi Zhang
19. J David Peske
20. Theodoros Karantanos
21. Amanda R. Maxwell
22. Eric Nuermberger
23. Richard B. Markham
24. Petros C. Karakousis

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases

Protective non-neutralizing mAbs Ab94 and Ab81 retain high-affinity and potent Fc-mediated function against SARS-CoV-2 variants from Omicron to XBB1.5

1. Arman Izadi
2. Magdalena Godzwon
3. Mats Ohlin
4. Pontus Nordenfelt

Reviewed by Rapid Reviews Infectious Diseases, PREreview

Macrophages drive inguinal fat pad and lymph node remodelling in response to peripheral inflammation

1. Robin Bartolini
2. Deepika Sharma
3. Gillian J Wilson
4. Gillian Dunphy
5. Jonathan Cavanagh
6. Heba A Halawa
7. John Cole
8. Stefan Weidt
9. Kirstyn Gardner-Stephen
10. Gerard J Graham

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents potentially important findings linking peripheral inflammation to the remodeling of perinodal adipose tissue and draining lymph nodes, suggesting a mechanism by which local tissue inflammation can reshape LN structure and metabolism. The idea is solid and supported by observations. However, the evidence remains incomplete in parts, as several conclusions rely on correlative weight and cellularity measurements, and macrophage involvement requires further validation.

Reviewed by eLife

Tracheal terminal cells of Drosophila are immune privileged to maintain their Foxo-dependent structural plasticity

1. Judith Bossen
2. Larissa Fritz
3. Reshmi Raveendran
4. Leizhi Shi
5. Jingjing He
6. Thomas Roeder

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is a valuable report describing tracheal terminal cells (TTCs) in Drosophila as an immune privileged organ. The authors demonstrated that TTCs lack expression of the membrane-associated peptidoglycan recognition receptor PGRP-LC, which protects these cells from immune pathway activation and JNK-mediated cell death to maintain TTC homeostasis. While the genetic experiments using RNAi and overexpression are convincing and solid, the broader biological significance of this phenomenon requires further investigation. This work will be of interest to researchers in innate immunity across various model systems.

Reviewed by eLife

Genome Restructuring around Innate Immune Genes in Monocytes in Alcohol-associated Hepatitis

1. Adam Kim
2. Megan R McMullen
3. Annette Bellar
4. David Streem
5. Jaividhya Dasarathy
6. Nicole Welch
7. Srinivasan Dasarathy

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This potentially useful manuscript addresses the 3D chromatin architecture in monocytes from a few patients with alcohol-associated hepatitis and its relationship to enhanced transcription of innate immune genes. While the concept and methodological approach are interesting in principle, the evidence is incomplete as a result of insufficient sample sizes as well as other substantive analytical concerns.

Reviewed by eLife

LFA-1 interaction with GBP-130 on Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells mediates NK cell activation and parasite control

1. Osama Mukhtar
2. Ravi Dutt
3. Ashutosh Panda
4. Poonam Kumari
5. Suneet Shekhar Singh
6. Gourab Paul
7. Neha Prakash
8. Madiha Abbas
9. Md Muzahidul Islam
10. Priya Arora
11. Alma Tammour
12. Asif Mohmmed
13. Dhiraj Kumar
14. Pawan Malhotra

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study addresses the interesting question of how immune cells recognise infected erythrocytes in malaria. It proposes the parasite protein PfGBP-130 as an interaction partner of the human cell surface protein LFA 1, which could help explain how NK cells recognize infected erythrocytes. The conclusions are partially supported by pull-down and cell-based activation data. However, the overall evidence of direct interaction at the cell-cell interface and downstream effects is incomplete; stronger evidence is required to demonstrate surface exposure of PfGBP-130, as well as a direct role of this antigen in killing.

Reviewed by eLife

Programmed Delayed Splicing: A Mechanism for Timed Inflammatory Gene Expression

1. Jacob S Dearborn
2. Luke Frankiw
3. Damas W Limoge
4. Christian H Burns
5. Logan Vlach
6. Patricia Turpin
7. Tylar Kirch
8. Zachary D Miller
9. William Dowell
10. Sylvester Languon
11. Yvette Garcia-Flores
12. Robert C Cockrell
13. David Baltimore
14. Devdoot Majumdar

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study analyzes the temporal dynamics of gene expression following TNF stimulation in macrophages. The work brings valuable data and new methodological approaches to implicate the splicing rate of certain introns as a mechanism regulating mature mRNA expression. This will be of interest to audiences in RNA biology and innate immune response regulation. The experimental design is solid for the core findings, although in places the data limit the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Direct contact between iPSC-derived macrophages and hepatocytes drives reciprocal acquisition of Kupffer cell identity and hepatocyte maturation

1. Christopher Zhe Wei Lee
2. Farah Tasnim
3. Xiaozhong Huang
4. Raman Sethi
5. Yoohyun Song
6. Tatsuya Kozaki
7. Sebastiaan De Schepper
8. Nicholas Ang
9. Ivy Low
10. You Yi Hwang
11. Jinmiao Chen
12. Hanry Yu
13. Florent Ginhoux

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This timely and fundamental study presents an innovative iPSC based co-culture system to model Kupffer cell-hepatocyte interactions and hepatotoxicity, demonstrating reciprocal acquisition of tissue identity and enhanced hepatocyte maturation. The work is convincing, supported by well-executed methodology and functional validation, including physiologically relevant, concentration-dependent hepatotoxic responses. The research approach is promising and of broad interest, further clarification of experimental design and interpretation may strengthen its impact.

Reviewed by eLife