A TRI-based research team from The University of Queensland’s Frazer Institute is focusing on the gut and lungs, as part wider work into understanding immune responses and how they protect against infections, viruses, parasites and even cancer.
Professor Gabrielle Belz leads research in understanding how the linings of the gut and lungs form a barrier, protecting the body by triggering immune responses or repairing damage.
Understanding how the body deals with pathogens such as infections, viruses and parasites requires study of important immune cells and systems, which are found in many parts of the body.
Among the most important are epithelial cells, considered to be at the crossroads between the external and the internal world because they encounter food and airborne pathogens. The cells are found in abundance in the linings of the gut and lungs.
Epithelial cells cooperate with beneficial bacteria in the gut and play a key role as frontline responders, sending signals triggering specific immune responses to invading pathogens.
Professor Belz is the UQ Chair in Immunology and leads a team focussing on understanding signals that trigger immune responses against pathogen infections, such as influenza and herpes viruses.
Her research has enabled tracking of virus-specific T cells in the immune system, uncovered the role of specific T cells in triggering antiviral responses, and identified key dendritic cells involved in immune responses to viral infections.
The research ultimately aims to contribute to developing vaccines for infectious disease and better treatments for autoimmune diseases.
Her team is now using the knowledge to study key cell signals, immune cell development, and mechanisms triggering immune responses in the nose, mouth, lungs and stomach – both to overwhelm infections and build long-lived protective immune memory.
“There are still some really big gaps in how we understand the body defending against pathogen infections,” Professor Belz says.
“We are determining how different types of immune cells develop, and what factors influence their decision to become one type of immune cell or another.
“Understanding how the body deals with pathogens will give clues about how to enhance protective immunity. Our goal is to discover new therapies that boost our immune system to protect against infection.”
Professor Belz has been awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellowship, with more than $3.4 million to now also study the way cells function at the epithelial barrier.
Her work is expected to advance drug and vaccine development and delivery, with benefits to the wider Australian society, the biomedical technology sector and the economy.
Epithelial cells form the protective layer of the body. There are several different types of epithelial cells, some of which are specialised to interact with immune cells, and they are the first cells to encounter infectious organisms.
More immune cells are found in the tissue layers beneath the protective barriers (skin and mucosa lining the gut and lungs) than any other parts of the body.
Despite this, how epithelial cells communicate with immune cells to establish the critical immune cascade that protects the body is not well understood. However, this knowledge is essential to uncover the rules for how to better deliver vaccines and drugs to the body, particularly targeting mucosal surfaces.
The new knowledge will enable development of unique biopharmaceuticals, help build new sovereign capabilities, bolster workforce capabilities and reduce the burden of disease.
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