The accrual of cholesterol-laden macrophages in the atherosclerotic plaque is a critical event that precedes plaque rupture. The guidance molecule netrin-1 mediates this accrual in a mouse model of atherosclerosis.

Autophagy, a programmed cell-survival strategy that allows cells to sustain themselves by digesting their own contents, turns out to be a critical link between chemotherapy-induced cell death and the triggering of an antitumor immune response.

Cruciform vegetables may be critical to intestinal health and immunity. It turns out that these vegetables contain ligands of the aryl hydrogen receptor which, when bound, turn on genes that mediate intestinal immune defense.

There is growing evidence that acute injury of the central nervous system, including stroke, impairs the immune system. A recent study implicates the postischemic activation of a particular type of lymphocyte, by noradrenergic signaling, as a mediator of impairment.

The genetic shifts and drifts of the influenza virus pose an obstacle to designing antiviral agents and vaccines that are effective over the long term. However, a recent study suggests that this goal is attainable.

Eliciting mucosal immunity through vaccination has been problematic. Two recent studies suggest a strategy to achieve this goal.

A recent study suggests that regulatory T cells are relevant in reducing the need for immunosuppressive drugs and in overcoming the limitations of a genetic mismatch between donor and recipient in allogeneic hematopoietic-cell transplantation.