The Journal of Immunology

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 19:vkaf192. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf192. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a critical pattern recognition receptor, detects microbe- and damage/danger-associated molecular patterns to trigger immune responses in mammals. However, the functions and mechanisms remain largely unclear in lower vertebrates. This study systematically investigates the evolutionary divergence, subcellular localization and ligand … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 18:vkaf202. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf202. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Macrophages comprise the first line of host responses against injury and pathogens and therefore are critically engaged in tissue repair, host defense, and homeostasis maintenance. Depending on the surrounding microenvironment, macrophages polarize into a wide spectrum of immunophenotypes with 2 extreme opposite ends-proinflammatory … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 18:vkaf204. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf204. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT NOD2 is primarily recognized as a cytosolic bacterial sensor of peptidoglycan, activating a downstream Rip2/NF-κB-mediated antimicrobial signaling pathway and playing a vital role in host defense against bacterial infections. NOD2 also appears to play a critical role in immune homeostasis, as NOD2 variants … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 18:vkaf193. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf193. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT The thymus is a primary lymphoid organ generating self-restricted and self-tolerant naïve T cells. Early in life the thymus starts to involute, resulting in decreased naïve T cell output which may be more self-reactive, leading to an increased prevalence of autoimmunity. A decrease … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 14:vkaf198. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf198. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Brucella abortus exploits the endoplasmic reticulum as a site for replication, triggering the unfolded protein response (UPR). While various pathogens have developed strategies to manipulate mitochondrial dynamics, the mechanisms underlying bacterial infection and mitochondrial dynamics interactions remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 13:vkaf185. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf185. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Humanized (h) DRAGA mice are a promising in vivo model for investigating immunotherapies for treating HIV infections. These mice are not only susceptible to HIV infection, but they also develop functional human immune cells, including T cells and B cells, as well as … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 13:vkaf203. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf203. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT The transcriptional regulatory elements and epigenetic modifiers predominantly control the molecular pathways influencing the development of the immune system. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as a new class of immune system regulators, playing an indispensable role in the ontogenesis, differentiation, activation, and function … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 12:vkaf182. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf182. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Immune checkpoint blockade has been shown to restore anti-tumor T-cell function and elicit durable responses in select solid and hematopoietic malignancies. However, single-agent anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1) antibodies proved less efficacious in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In patients with high-risk or … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 12:vkaf189. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf189. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT It was previously reported that genetic ablation of the NF-κB atypical inhibitor Bcl3 through congenic introduction of a 129P2-embryo derived knockout allele (Bcl3tm1Ver) accelerated autoimmune diabetes in the NOD mouse model. Conversely, we found that direct CRISPR-mediated ablation of this gene in the … Read more

J Immunol. 2025 Aug 12:vkaf167. doi: 10.1093/jimmun/vkaf167. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Since its approval in 2019, hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors, like roxadustat, have been used for treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease. However, the impact of HIF stabilization on circulating leukocytes remains largely unexplored. In this study, we examined how clinically … Read more