It is believed that the resemblance of many hoverflies to stinging hymenopterans is a case of Batesian mimicry, though there is little experimental evidence that it is effective in protecting them from predators. In this study the effectiveness of hoverfly mimicry was investigated for humans by presenting groups of university students and schoolchildren with a questionnaire which included pictu...

Chronic inflammation in adipose tissue plays a key role in obesity-induced insulin resistance. However, the mechanisms underlying obesity-induced inflammation remain elusive. Here we show that obesity promotes mtDNA release into the cytosol, where it triggers inflammatory responses by activating the DNA-sensing cGAS-cGAMP-STING pathway. Fat-specific knockout of disulfide-bond A oxidoreductase-l...

Dengue virus (DENV) is a pathogen with a high impact on human health. It replicates in a wide range of cells involved in the immune response. To efficiently infect humans, DENV must evade or inhibit fundamental elements of the innate immune system, namely the type I interferon response. DENV circumvents the host immune response by expressing proteins that antagonize the cellular innate immunity...

Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) was defined as an important molecule for promoting antitumor immunity through mediating type I interferon (IFN) production by sensing its ligands such as cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP). Our recent study indeed demonstrated that intratumoral injection of cGAMP showed effective antitumor responses via accumulating activated macrophages in the tumor microenvironment ...

Stinging insect allergy is a relatively common medical problem, responsible for an estimated 40 fatalities per year in the USA and considerable anxiety and lifestyle modification. There are no criteria to identify people at risk of initial venom anaphylaxis. Reactions may occur at any age and are unrelated to the time interval of prior venom exposure. There is an approximate 60% re-sting reacti...

BACKGROUND Sting challenge with a live insect remains the best test for proving the efficacy of immunotherapy in Hymenoptera allergy. OBJECTIVE We studied the impact of tolerated sting challenge on quality of life. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this prospective study, data were collected via self-report questionnaires completed by consenting patients with Hymenoptera venom allergy on venom immuno...

Endosomal escape is a rate limiting step for many promising therapeutics, including cyclic dinucleotide (CDN) agonists of the stimulator interferon genes (STING) pathway. In article number 2001056, John T. Wilson and co-workers synthesize screen novel library polymers with pH-responsive, membrane-destabilizing activity evaluate their capacity to enhance cytosolic delivery CDNs, resulting in ide...

In multiple sclerosis (MS) beneficial effects have been assigned to the interferon (IFN)-I subclass IFN-ß, making its administration a first-line disease-modifying treatment in MS. IFN-I responses can be induced by cyclic-dinucleotide (CDN) triggered activation of Stimulator-of-interferon-genes (STING) and have essential immunomodulatory effects. A beneficial effect of STING activation on...