New Pre-print: Functional reprogramming of monocytes in acute and convalescent severe COVID-19 patients
August 20th 2021 - 11:18
Considerable advances have been made in the last months in understanding the contribution of the immune system to the pathology induced by SARS-CoV2. Here, Elisa BRAUNS from the group of Stanislas Goriely assessed the short and long-term impact of the infection on the function and the molecular features of circulating monocytes. They demonstrate that severe infection is associated with major alterations of the capacity of monocytes to produce cytokines in response to stimulation by various TLR ligands. However, this immune paralysis was not persistent as it was followed in the next months by...
New publication on the role of T follicular helper cells in breast cancer
August 20th 2021 - 11:02
In this article published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the group of Karen Willard-Gallo explores the mechanisms leading to the formation of active Tertiary Lymphoid Structures (TLS) in breast cancer. Analysis of active versus inactive TLS in untreated patients revealed that the former are associated with positive clinical outcomes. They explore the role of tumor-infiltrating Follicular Helper (Tfh) and Regulatory T cells (Tfr) in this process and show that these cells represent a potential key target of PD1/PDL1 blockade.
New article on the response of residents from nursing homes to Sars-Cov2 mRNA vaccine published in Clinical Infectious disease
June 17th 2021 - 12:28
En septembre 2020 était lancée l’étude PICOV dans 26 centres de soins pour personnes âgées en Belgique. L’objectif de cette étude était de déterminer dans quelle mesure les personnes, personnel et résidents, ayant été préalablement infectées par SARS-CoV-2 étaient protégées de nouvelles infections. Après le début de la campagne de vaccination en janvier 2021, une deuxième question importante a été ajoutée au projet, à savoir si la réponse immunitaire au vaccin COVID-19 était différente chez les personnes préalablement infectées par SARS-CoV-2 par rapport aux...
1st Summer School in Immuno-Oncology organized by the Institut Cancer et Immunologie (ICI) and CIVIS
February 11th 2021 - 11:38
The ICI Summer School, edition 2021, all in English, is designed for international PhD and master’s students in life sciences, medicine, and computer science who are seeking to further their knowledge and skills in immuno-oncology research using the latest analytical methods. The Summer School will present recent technological breakthroughs that unravel the complexities of biological systems at the single-cell level, opening an avenue for the understanding of tumor and immune cell heterogeneity and next generation discovery of biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
In autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), the balance between regulatory mechanisms and misguided immune cells attacking the body is often shifted in favour of auto-reactive cells. Manipulating the immune response to restore this balance and enhance regulatory functions is therefore a central paradigm in the search for MS therapies. We identified a specific signalling pathway, triggered by a receptor named CD27 that could be a target for such manipulation. By stimulating this receptor, we were able to reduce the activity of harmful auto-reactive cells and enhance the function of...
Tristetraprolin (TTP) is an RNA-binding protein that is known to play a critical role in the resolution of inflammation through the destabilisation of key cytokine transcripts, such as that encoding TNF. Furthermore, decreased expression or function of TTP is consistently observed in many human malignancies. Using loss or gain of function approaches, Assiya Assabban and her colleagues from the lab of Stan Goriely provide in vivo evidence that TTP controls key oncogenic events during skin tumorigenesis, such as the EGFR pathway. These data strongly support the notion that deregulation of...
Recent publication : Hepatocarcinoma Induces a Tumor Necrosis Factor-Dependent Kupffer Cell Death Pathway That Favors Its Proliferation Upon Partial Hepatectomy
December 01st 2020 - 07:45
Partial hepatectomy is one of the best treatment for Hepatocellular carcinoma. However, a significant amount of patients undergoes a recursion of the disease that could be accelerated by the surgery-associated inflammation. Using preclinical model, Jean-François Hastir, in the team of Véronique Flamand, brings new evidence on the link between hepatectomy-induced Kupffer cell death and local inflammation that contributes to tumor progression. He discovered that primary hepatocellular carcinoma induces the switch from the TNF-α-RIPK3-caspase8 dependent Kupffer cell apoptosis to a...
Recent publication : Myeloid tumor necrosis factor and heme oxygenase-1 regulate the progression of colorectal liver metastases during hepatic ischemia-reperfusion
October 23rd 2020 - 13:46
Liver ischemia/reperfusion occurring during surgical procedures such as partial hepatectomy contributes to colorectal liver metastasis progression. Desislava Germanova in the team of Véronique Flamand demonstrated that in this setting the tumor progression is occuring despite the local production of TNF by resident macrophages (Kupffer cells). She shows that the liver ischemia/reperfusion induced a Kupffer cell number decrease most likely through pyroptosis that favors the recruitment of TNF producing protective monocytes. However, the anti-tumoral capacity of these myeloid cells is...
CD8 + T cells within the tumor microenvironment are exposed to various signals that ultimately determine functional outcomes. In October issue of Immunity, the team of Ludovic Martinet from the Centre de physiopathologie de Toulouse Purpan (CPTP) identified a new mechanism involved in T cell dysfunction. Through complementary approaches, involving cancer patients’ samples and relevant mouse tumor models, Weulersse et al. reveal that CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment lose expression of the activating receptor CD226 (DNAM-1) in a manner that is Eomes dependent. CD226 loss restrains...
