Trends in Immunology

Trends Immunol. 2026 May 16:S1471-4906(26)00101-8. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.04.008. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT The adaptive immune system (AIS) is traditionally viewed as a defensive vertebrate innovation forged by pathogen pressure. Yet many of its core features suggest it is a homeostatic, regulatory circuit, not simply a sophisticated means of antimicrobial warfare. The horizontal transfer of mitochondria–endogenous … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 May 5:S1471-4906(26)00098-0. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.04.005. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Glycan-specific antibodies are classically associated with limited durability. In a recent Immunity article, Fryer et al. showed that repeated Streptococcus pyogenes exposure elicits glycan-specific germinal center responses in tonsils despite reduced T cell help, revealing key limitations of anti-glycan immunity and opportunities to … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 May 1:S1471-4906(26)00097-9. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.04.004. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Itaconate is an immunomodulatory metabolite that links metabolism and inflammation. Li et al. uncover a mechanism by which itaconate and 4-octyl itaconate suppress cytokine signaling through the alkylation of tyrosine kinase 2 and Janus kinase 1. This study reveals a direct metabolic control … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 Apr 30:S1471-4906(26)00076-1. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.03.015. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Sickness, or sickness behavior, is a state of altered physiology and behavior generated by the brain-immune axis during infection, which is generally assumed to contribute to host defense. Here, we examine this assumption by framing sickness as organismal-scale immunity and explore predicted parallels … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 Apr 27:S1471-4906(26)00071-2. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.03.010. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Placental biology is increasingly framed through a signaling paradigm in which maternal microbiome-derived mediators-rather than microbial colonization-affect the function of the interface. This review synthesizes evidence that circulating microbial signals, including short-chain fatty acids, tryptophan-derived indoles, bile-acid-linked ligands, microbe-associated molecular patterns, and bacterial … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 Apr 23:S1471-4906(26)00095-5. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.04.002. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT It remains unclear how mitochondrial stress instructs the transcriptional programme of terminal T cell exhaustion. In a recent study, Xu et al. uncovered a proteasome-haem-BACH2 axis in which haem liberated from damaged mitochondrial haemoproteins acts as a molecular messenger that couples mitochondrial injury … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 Apr 22:S1471-4906(26)00092-X. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.04.001. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are innate-like T cells that recognize microbial metabolites. Recent studies have suggested numerous markers to define MAIT cells with distinct functional characteristics. This review synthesizes available data to identify markers that distinguish type 1 and type 3 murine … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 Apr 21:S1471-4906(26)00072-4. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.03.011. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT The macrophage disappearance reaction (MDR) was originally proposed to explain the loss of peritoneal macrophages in inflammation but has since been extended across tissues and diseases. MDR involves multiple processes, including cell death, differentiation, loss of identity, and the formation of aggregates rendering … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 Apr 18:S1471-4906(26)00070-0. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.03.009. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Natural killer (NK) cells are part of the innate immune system and reside in multiple tissues. During steady-state conditions, they contribute to tissue homeostasis, while in disease settings, tissue-resident (tr) NK cells are positioned at the frontline of immune surveillance. Due to their … Read more

Trends Immunol. 2026 Apr 16:S1471-4906(26)00067-0. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2026.03.006. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Immunogenic cell death (ICD) converts the death of a tumor cell into an event sensed by the immune system. Recent studies show that distinct ICD modalities, including immunogenic apoptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, and hybrid forms such as PANoptosis, release defined sets of danger signals … Read more