Functional persistence of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells is required for sustaining an antitumor response. Recently, Jain et al. revealed that disruption of TET2 in CAR T cells resulted in antigen-independent CAR T cell hyperproliferation that enhanced tumor control in mice, highlighting the potential of epigenetic strategies to improve T cell-based cancer immunotherapy.

All forms of life are prone to attack by genetic parasites. To defend themselves against these invaders, host cells and organisms have evolved myriad self/nonself recognition systems. It appears that many of the strategies used by the cell-autonomous innate immune system to fend off viral predators have their origin in prokaryotes. For instance, DNA-sensing systems, such as the cGAS-STING pathway…

Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) is crucial for the cytosolic accumulation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) species that are required to jumpstart innate and adaptive immunity. Recent data reported by Ghosh et al. suggest that tumor protein p53 regulates MOMP-dependent type I interferon (IFN) production, not only via MOMP-promoting effects, but also by directing mtDNA-degrading…

Some of the current and former organizers of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) ‘Gene Expression and Signaling in the Immune System’ (GESIS) meeting offer opinions on emerging questions in immunology, discussing the strong value of this recurring scientific meeting in the field.

CD8+ T cells play a crucial role in eliminating virus-infected cells and tumors. Armed with potent cytolytic potential and an inherent capacity to produce proinflammatory cytokines, CD8+ T cells are generally highly effective at killing their target cells upon T cell receptor (TCR) recognition of cognate antigen presented in the context of MHC-I [1]. However, in response to persistent antigen…

Over the past 40 years of HIV-1/HIV vaccine development research, two key points have become abundantly clear. First, adaptive immune vulnerabilities of HIV and its simian counterpart SIV are few and far between due to both exquisite immune evasion adaptions of this viral family and, in humans, striking global viral sequence diversity [1–7]. The former includes hiding vulnerable envelope…

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently updated its critical fungal pathogen list that includes Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Candida auris, and Cryptococcus neoformans, which predominantly impact on human health by causing invasive infections, and for which treatment challenges include very high mortalities worldwide, ranging from 20% to 100% despite antifungal therapy [1]….