Immunology

Structure-guided loop grafting improves expression and stability of influenza neuraminidase for vaccine development

1. Pramila Rijal
2. Leiyan Wei
3. Guido C Paesen
4. David I Stuart
5. Mark Haworth
6. Kuan-Ying A Huang
7. Thomas A Bowden
8. Alain RM Townsend

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors developed a methodology to graph antigenic surface loops on influenza virus neuraminidases. The hybrid proteins retained the structure of the neuraminidase scaffold and the antigenicity of the grafted loops. This fundamental work should help in developing novel neuraminidase constructs for use in influenza virus vaccines. The paper presents compelling evidence supporting the conclusions arrived at by the authors.

Reviewed by eLife

RAG suppresses group 2 innate lymphoid cells

1. Aaron M Ver Heul
2. Madison Mack
3. Lydia Zamidar
4. Masato Tamari
5. Ting-Lin Yang
6. Anna M Trier
7. Do-Hyun Kim
8. Hannah Janzen-Meza
9. Steven J Van Dyken
10. Chyi-Song Hsieh
11. Jenny M Karo
12. Joseph C Sun
13. Brian S Kim

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides new insights into the expression profile of ILCs that demonstrate a history of RAG expression. It examines in part the potential intrinsic regulation of RAG expression and seeks to understand how the epigenetic state of ILCs is established, although a full understanding of intrinsic factors is only partially supported. The work provides a convincing and important molecular dataset, and strengthens our understanding of intrinsic regulation, and would be of interest more broadly to cell biologists seeking to understand immune cell development.

Reviewed by eLife

HERV activation segregates ME/CFS from fibromyalgia while defining a novel nosologic entity

1. Karen Giménez-Orenga
2. Eva Martín-Martínez
3. Lubov Nathanson
4. Elisa Oltra

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study substantially expands observations of HERV expression in the clinical settings. The evidence provided by the authors that HERV activity is an underlying etiological factor in ME/CFS and fibromyalgia is compelling and suggests further investigation into mechanisms. This work will be of broad interest to clinicians and researchers alike.

Reviewed by eLife

A modular platform to display multiple hemagglutinin subtypes on a single immunogen

1. Dana Thornlow Lamson
2. Faez Amokrane Nait Mohamed
3. Mya Vu
4. Daniel P Maurer
5. Larance Ronsard
6. Daniel Lingwood
7. Aaron G Schmidt

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable manuscript describes the immunogenicity of a bead-on-a-string immunogen that allows the inclusion of multiple HA subtypes. The evidence to support the claims is convincing, and more importantly, this approach could be adapted to other vaccine platforms.

Reviewed by eLife

Thymic dendritic cell-derived IL-27p28 promotes the establishment of functional bias against IFN-γ production in newly generated CD4+ T cells through STAT1-related epigenetic mechanisms

1. Jie Zhang
2. Hui Tang
3. Haoming Wu
4. Xuewen Pang
5. Rong Jin
6. Yu Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a useful reassessment of the potential role of dendritic cell-derived IL-27 p28 cytokine in the functional maturation of CD4+CD8- thymocytes, and CD4+ recent thymic emigrants. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid and serves to reaffirm what has been previously described, with the overall advance in understanding the mechanism(s) responsible for the intrathymic functional programming of CD4+ T cells being limited.

Reviewed by eLife

Contributions of T helper 9 cells in endometriosis-associated inflammation and lesion growth

1. Alison McCallion
2. Katherine B. Zutautas
3. Danielle J. Sisnett
4. Priyanka Yolmo
5. Harshavardhan Lingegowda
6. Asha K. Ravishanker
7. Dan Vo Hoang
8. Chandrakant Tayade

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Unraveling the role of Ctla-4 in intestinal immune homeostasis through a novel Zebrafish model of inflammatory bowel disease

1. Lulu Qin
2. Chongbin Hu
3. Qiong Zhao
4. Yong Wang
5. Dongdong Fan
6. Aifu Lin
7. Lixin Xiang
8. Ye Chen
9. Jianzhong Shao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study focuses on the role of a T-cell-specific receptor, ctla-4, in a new zebrafish model of IBD-like phenotype. Although implicated in IBD diseases, the function of ctla-4 has been hard to study in mice as the KO is lethal. Ctla-4 mutant zebrafish exhibited significant intestinal inflammation and dysbiosis, mirroring the pathology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in mammals, providing a new valuable model to the field of IBD research. This is an key study with convincing evidence, comprehensive transcriptomic analysis, histological examinations, and functional assays all supporting the findings.

Reviewed by eLife

Diversity and functional specialization of oyster immune cells uncovered by integrative single-cell level investigations

1. Sebastien De La Forest Divonne
2. Juliette Pouzadoux
3. Oceane Romatif
4. Caroline Montagnani
5. Guillaume Mitta
6. Delphine Destoumieux-Garzón
7. Benjamin Gourbal
8. Guillaume M Charriere
9. Emmanuel Vignal

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The manuscript by de La Forest Divonne et al. offers an important and detailed exploration of the immune cells in the oyster Crassostrea gigas, by correlating distinct hemocyte morphotypes with specific single-cell transcriptional profiles. The evidence supporting the conclusion is convincing, deriving from the comprehensive dataset that not only captures unicellular diversity but also associates these cells with distinct immune roles, making it an invaluable resource for the broader research community.

Reviewed by eLife

T-follicular helper cell profiles differ by malaria antigen and for children compared to adults

1. Catherine Suzanne Forconi
2. Christina Nixon
3. Hannah W Wu
4. Boaz Odwar
5. Sunthorn Pond-Tor
6. John M Ong'echa
7. Jonathan D Kurtis
8. Ann M Moormann

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This descriptive study used multiparameter spectral flow cytometry and clustering analysis of a subset of CD4 T cells, termed circulating T follicular helper (cTfh), responding to Plasmodium falciparum antigens, PfSEA -1A and PfGARP. The results from this comprehensive study provide valuable information regarding differences in cTfh response profiles between children and adults living in malaria-endemic Kenya and thus offer a potential usefulness towards improving choices of antigen candidates for malaria vaccines. However, the analysis and interpretation of antigen-specific CD4 cTfh responses remain incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Temporal dynamics of viral fitness and the adaptive immune response in HCV infection

1. Melanie Rose Walker
2. Preston Leung
3. Elizabeth Keoshkerian
4. Mehdi R Pirozyan
5. Andrew Lloyd
6. Fabio Luciani
7. Rowena A Bull

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors examined the evolution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a cohort of 14 subjects with recent HCV infections. They showed that viral fitness declines as the virus mutates to escape the immune response and can rebound later in infection as HCV accumulates additional mutations. The study contributes to an important aspect of viral evolution. The combination of approaches contributes to a convincing study.

Reviewed by eLife