Guest:
Dr. John Wherry is the Director of the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health at the University of Pennsylvania. He discusses how T cell exhaustion develops during chronic infections and cancer, and why it may serve as a protective adaptation rather than simply a dysfunctional immune state. He also explores how epigenetic regulation shapes exhausted T cell differentiation, the potential of emerging gene-editing and delivery technologies to manipulate T cell function, and the opportunities and limitations of artificial intelligence in advancing immunology research.
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The Immunology Science Round Up
IRF4 Regulates Treg Cell Identity – Researchers have identified an IRF4 regulatory element that drives inflammatory reprogramming and loss of suppressive function in human regulatory T cells, revealing a potential target for improving Treg therapies.
γδ T Cells Require TCR Signaling – Tissue-resident γδ T cells depend on T cell receptor signaling for their rapid, innate-like responses to tissue stress and cancer, revealing a key mechanism of immune surveillance.
Bacterial LPS Trains Lung Immunity – Low-dose Pseudomonas aeruginosa LPS enhances lung-resident NK cell activity through C3aR1 signaling, providing microbiota-dependent protection against bacterial pneumonia in mice.
BATF+ Tregs Mark Early Lung Cancer – BATF-expressing regulatory T cells expand across blood and lung tissues during early lung cancer development, providing potential targets for monitoring and preventing dise