This week’s articles highlight a mechanism by which melanoma cells prepare the metastatic niche, intestinal defense against rotavirus, and immune tolerance in the human fetus.
CANCER
Melanomas prep the premetastatic niche
Olmeda et al. found that melanoma cells secrete a growth factor that stimulates lymphangiogenesis in distant tissues, thus preparing the premetastatic niche (see also Hoshino and Lyden).
IMMUOLOGY
How intestinal cells battle rotavirus
Zhu et al. identified the subset of inflammasomes that mediate intestinal defense against rotavirus infection (see also Saavedra and Lamkanfi).
Tolerance in the fetal immune system
McGovern et al. report that a subset of dendritic cells in the human fetus promotes immune tolerance in part by degrading an amino acid that is required for the production of the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α.