Interplay between IL-5, IL-17A, innate lymphoid cells and regulatory T cells in asthma.

Asthma affects over 300 million people worldwide. Sensitization to an airborne allergen accounts for the development of asthma in at least half of the patients with asthma. In Belgium, house dust mite sensitization is found in approximately 65% of asthmatic patients. A type 2 immune response has initially been indicated as the main driver of allergic asthma. However, our group and many others have shown that airway inflammation in asthma is heterogeneous and that many cells interact with type 2 immune cells to aggravate or to dampen the disease. In this research project I intend to study the interaction between IL-5 (type 2 cytokine), IL-17A (type 17 cytokine) and innate lymphoid cells and the contribution of these cells to the cardinal features of asthma. Airway samples of asthmatics and an experimental model of asthma will be used. Induced regulatory T cells (iTregs) are required to dampen airway inflammation in the periphery. We have recently shown that Tregs are proportionally less prevalent in steroid-naive asthmatics compared to controls. We will now create transgenic mice that carry the T cell receptor that recognizes specifically Der p 2 (one of the major house dust mite allergens). In these mice we will eliminate iTregs and explore the effect of these cells on the development and chronicity of the disease.

Keywords:Regulatory T cells, Innate lymphoid cells, Airway inflammation, Asthma

Disciplines:Immunology