Issues

Cover: Artistic enhancement of an early-stage granulomatous lesion of a cxcr3.2 mutant zebrafish larva. Green: macrophages; blue: neutrophils; red: mycobacteria. Torraca et al. demonstrated that signalling via the chemokine receptor Cxcr3.2 (a zebrafish orthologue of mammalian CXCR3) is important for macrophage recruitment to mycobacterial infection foci. Activation via its Cxcl11 cognate ligands mediates expansion and seeding of granulomas within the host via the parasitised macrophages. As a consequence, genetically or pharmacologically cxcr3.2-deficient hosts acquire partial resistance to mycobacterial infection and develop fewer and smaller granulomas. This highlights the CXCR3-CXCL11 signalling axis as a newly identified target for antitubercular host-directed therapy. See article by Torraca et al. on page 253.