Roles of group 2 innate lymphoid cells in asthma

Ended Project Grant Awarded Last action

Award ID
R56AI181754
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$1,076,800

Award facts

Assistance listing
93.855 Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research
Completion date
Place of performance
Arizona, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

Abstract
This project's long-term goal is to understand immunological mechanisms of asthma and type 2 immunity. Airway inflammation in patients with asthma is generally characterized by increased lymphocytes producing type 2 cytokines. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2S) that rapidly produce large quantities of type 2 cytokines have been implicated in the innate arm of type 2 immunity and pathophysiology of allergic diseases. However, several major questions remain: how are ILC2S involved in promoting or regulating type 2 airway inflammation? Do ILC2S work in concert with other immune cells, such as CD4+ t cells? If so, how? And, importantly, do ILC2S in a mature immune/microbial environment, like the adult human body, behave similarly to those in laboratory mice that are housed in a clean environment? The objective of this application is to address these gaps in our knowledge. To achieve the goal of this project, we began to directly analyze the roles of ILC2S by deleting them using a genetic approach in mice. When naïve animals were acutely exposed to a natural airborne allergen, the TH2- type memory responses were markedly reduced in ILC2-deficient mice. Paradoxically, when naïve animals were exposed repeatedly to the same allergen, ILC2-deficient mice showed a marked increase in their levels of type 2 cytokines and eosinophilic airway inflammation. Therefore, we hypothesize that lung ILC2S serve as a master regulator in the airways by promoting and suppressing adaptive type 2 immune responses, depending on the context. In aim 1, we will define the roles of lung ILC2S in the development of immune memory during acute allergen exposure. We will investigate how ILC2S promote antigen-specific TH2-type tissue-resident memory t cells. In aim 2, we will determine the regulatory roles of lung ILC2S in allergen-induced chronic airway inflammation. We will investigate how lung ILC2S in concert with regulatory CD4+ t cells suppress excessive immune responses and inflammation. In aim 3, we will elucidate the roles of lung ILC2S in mice with physiologic microbial exposure. We will leverage a novel "dirty mice" model and characterize the functions of ILC2S in mice that have been exposed naturally to pathogens and microbes, similarly to humans. We will integrate several mouse models to investigate the cause-effect relationships between ILC2S and type 2 immunity in the airways. The tools, technical expertise, and resource necessary to accomplish this project are in place. Successful completion of this proposal will help to explain how type 2 immune responses develop, persist, and are regulated in the airways and how ILC2S contribute to these processes. Ultimately, these studies will clarify the immunological mechanisms and pathophysiology of asthma and related airway disorders, allowing for development of novel strategies for the diagnosis and treatment for the diseases.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $0
Amendment $0
Amendment $0
Amendment -$181,927
Amendment -$181,927
Amendment $480,218
Amendment $480,218
Original award $480,218

Quick answers

Who received award R56AI181754?

R56AI181754 was awarded to Mayo Clinic Arizona by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (National Institutes of Health) on May 3, 2024.

How much is award R56AI181754 worth?

$1,076,800 has been obligated on R56AI181754.

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