Prof Danny Altmann

The immune microenvironment of colorectal cancer - Nature Reviews Cancer In this Review, Kennel and Greten highlight the role of immune cells in colorectal cancer (CRC) development, progression and metastasis as well as the impact of therapies on the immune microenvironment. They emphasize the need for novel strategies to enhance immunogenicity and CRC patient stratification to improve outcomes.

🥳 Our 9th most downloaded #REVIEW in 2025:

The immune microenvironment of colorectal cancer

#TME #colorectalcancer @NatResCancer
#NRCtop10of2025

“I’m really excited [about the shingles research in particular] because it’s big data. These studies are not small or speculative or hypothetical, but solid and credible,” Altmann says…

Should you pay £500 for a shingles jab? As new studies suggest some vaccinations could lower the risk of dementia and heart disease, the experts weigh in on whether it’s worth a shot

Should you pay £500 for a shingles jab?

www.thetimes.com/article/9573...

Segmented filamentous bacteria reprogramming of alveolar macrophages limits postinfluenza bacterial pneumonia SFB colonization phenotypically alters alveolar macrophages, maintaining their antibacterial functions in inflamed interferon-rich lungs.

Segmented filamentous bacteria reprogramming of alveolar macrophages limits postinfluenza bacterial pneumonia | Science Immunology www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Environmentally driven immune imprinting protects against allergy - Nature In a mouse model, environmental immunostimulation in early life led to cross-reactive adaptive immune memory and reduced type II immune responses to allergens, indicating a mechanistic relationship be...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

On Being Ill at 100: Virginia Woolf’s ‘best essay’ still shapes how we read sickness Woolf argues that illness is ‘the great confessional’ which is never talked about in literature.

Outstanding article from my friend Lucyl Harrison in @theconversation.com today.

'Human character changed in December 2019, when SARS-CoV-2 was discovered and the COVID pandemic began in earnest'.

theconversation.com/on-being-ill...

A bird's-eye view of a former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp showing a wide dirt pathway flanked by parallel rows of barbed-wire fences. Groups of visitors walk along the path, surrounded by the remnants of brick structures and barracks, now reduced to foundations. Green grass contrasts with the somber history of the site, as the path leads toward a guard tower in the distance.

Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers.

This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder.

Auschwitz took time.

On this #HMD2026 I think of my survivor Mum, Marlene, liberated on this day, 1945 - offered horsemeat and vodka by the incoming liberators - and words of Ettie Hillesum's Holocaust Diary: 'I find life beautiful and I feel free. The sky within me is as wide as the one stretching above my head.'

Today marks 81 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

We must never forget the horrors of the Holocaust.

#HolocaustMemorialDay

Please please vaccinate your child against measles.

This is from our @independentsage.bsky.social report from last year, led by @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social & @helensalisbury.bsky.social

independentsage.org/wp-content/u...

Long COVID👉 neurological, cardiovascular and immune dysfunction, needs recognition and care pathways.
@virusesimmunity.bsky.social @michaelpelusomd.bsky.social @daltmann.bsky.social @weselymd.bsky.social @nisreenalwan.bsky.social et al
@nature.com
Vol 11, 92, 2025
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

COVID-19 associated neurological and psychological manifestations - Nature Reviews Disease Primers This PrimeView highlights the mechanisms of COVID-19-associated neurological and psychological manifestations, and accompanies the Primer on this topic by Wilson et al.

Long COVID 👉 neurological, cardiovascular and immune dysfunction, needs recognition and care pathways.
@virusesimmunity.bsky.social @michaelpelusomd.bsky.social @daltmann.bsky.social @weselymd.bsky.social @nisreenalwan.bsky.social et al
@natrevdiseaseprimers.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Discoveries beyond molecular mimicry describe how EBV drives multiple sclerosis In the current issue of Cell, three papers describe new mechanistic information about how EBV transforms B cells to become antigen-presenting cells in the brain that drive demyelinating disease.

Discoveries beyond molecular mimicry describe how EBV drives multiple sclerosis: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

A variety of early hominin species shared the Afar region of Ethiopia Fossils reveal that at least four types of hominin, including Paranthropus, were present in northern Ethiopia between 3 million and 2.4 million years ago.

A variety of early hominin species shared the Afar region of Ethiopia www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Bacterial metabolites induce cell wall remodeling, antifungal resistance, and immune recognition of commensal fungi Davis et al. demonstrate that common gastrointestinal bacteria secrete metabolites that induce global cell remodeling in Candida albicans. C. albicans uses the HOG cascade, a central stress pathway, t...

Bacterial metabolites induce cell wall remodeling, antifungal resistance, and immune recognition of commensal fungi: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Increased prevalence of #autoantibodies neutralizing IFNλ2/3 in young individuals with #CysticFibrosis. New report from Kevin Groen, Emanuela Bruscia, Marc Emmenegger, Benjamin Hale @benhale.bsky.social and colleagues: rupress.org/jhi/article/...

#Autoimmunity #Infections

Nous-209 neoantigen vaccine for cancer prevention in Lynch syndrome carriers: a phase 1b/2 trial - Nature Medicine In a phase 1b/2 trial, an off-the-shelf vaccine using gorilla adenoviral and modified vaccinia Ankara vectors with over 200 mutated peptides known to be present in persons with mismatch-repair-deficie...

A vaccine to prevent colon cancer.
Proof-of-concept for strong immune response and safety via neoantigens given to people carrying mutations for Lynch syndrome
nature.com/articles/s41...

Challenging Claims of an Autism Epidemic — Misconceptions and a Path Forward | NEJM Autism research programs should focus on both causes and effective services and supports. Alarmist claims, chasing of debunked theories of causation, and further stigmatizing autism are counterprod...

Challenging Claims of an Autism Epidemic — Misconceptions and a Path Forward | New England Journal of Medicine www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Controversial US study on hepatitis B vaccines in Africa is cancelled $1.6m project drew outrage over ethical questions about withholding vaccines proven to prevent disease

Whoever got this unethical trial cancelled, you just saved some lives. Kennedy, you should be ashamed of yourself for backing it in the first place.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Immune signature-based uncoupling of checkpoint inhibitor efficacy and toxicity Lucas et al. evaluate the interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) signature against toxicity and efficacy in four neoadjuvant melanoma immunotherapy regimens. IFN-γ-high scores associated with overall favorable effi...

Immune signature-based uncoupling of checkpoint inhibitor efficacy and toxicity: Immunity www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

First leukaemia patient to get pioneering drug on NHS says it is 'very sci-fi' Oscar Murphy has an aggressive form of the blood cancer and is the first to get CAR-T therapy in the UK.

"CAR-T therapy has been available on the NHS for several years for certain types of leukaemia and lymphoma but has only now been extended to adults with B-cell ALL."

#genetherapy #celltherapy

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Universal nirsevimab slashes RSV infant hospitalizations, study suggests

Great to see two papers out that show the benefits of RSV vaccination (monoclonal treatment) to prevent severe RSV infection. A quick thread to unpick what these vaccines are as there are 2 quite different products in clinical use and it can be confusing what the terminology means. #HealthPolicy 🧵

A Monoclonal Antibody to PACAP for Migraine Prevention | NEJM Targeting pituitary adenylate cyclase–activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a new avenue for treating migraine. The efficacy and safety of intravenous Lu AG09222, a humanized monoclonal antibody direct...

Monoclonal antibody Lu AG09222 decreased monthly migraine days:

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... #LongCovid

Chinese Immune Multi-Omics Atlas Human peripheral blood exhibits molecular and cellular heterogeneity across populations, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We present the Chinese Immune Multi-Omics Atlas (CIMA), character...

Chinese Immune Multi-Omics Atlas | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

HLA export by melanoma cells decoys cytotoxic T cells to promote immune evasion Melanoma cells escape immune surveillance by releasing MHC-antigen-loaded large EVs, known as melanosomes, that directly engage and impair CD8+ T cell receptors.

HLA export by melanoma cells decoys cytotoxic T cells to promote immune evasion: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Manuscript: Combination antiviral and anti-inflammatory therapy mitigates persistent neurological deficits in mice post SARS-CoV-2infection. The figure shows reduction of TH quantification in SN of patients with COVID-19 in comparison with uninfected controls

Just published on @pnas.org how #COVID can lead to loss of dopamine neurons. In mice, it can be mitigated with proper treatment, but in humans we don't know yet. Below you see the reduction of TH (rate-limiting enzyme to produce dopamine) in the brain. This is #LongCovid and also viral Parkinsonism.

IL-17REL disarms inflammation Nature Immunology - A newly identified, TGFβ-inducible decoy receptor for IL-17 family cytokines reveals a feedback mechanism that limits mucosal inflammation, linking epithelial and lymphoid...

IL-17REL disarms inflammation

A newly identified decoy receptor for IL-17 cytokines reveals a feedback mechanism that limits mucosal inflammation, linking epithelial and lymphoid cell responses through a common cytokine axis that controls immunity.

www.nature.com/artic...
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Fowl Play: How US Chicken Imports will Pollute Britain's Poor Since joining the EU British food has gone from bog-awful to top-notch, but Otto English reveals how a US Trade deal will unravel 40 years of progress.

Your fact of the day:

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in six American citizens suffers a food-borne illness annually. In the UK, the figure is one in 132.

bylinetimes.com/2020/02/28/f...

Assumption comes from a series of excellent, big data papers on reduced risk associated with zoster vaccination