Descrizione del progetto
Interazione tra sistema nervoso e risposta immunitaria
In passato si pensava che il sistema immunitario e il sistema nervoso svolgessero ruoli diversi, recenti ricerche hanno però dimostrato che interagiscono e si influenzano a vicenda. Quando subiamo una lesione, un’infezione o un’infiammazione, i nervi della pelle si attivano, inviando segnali al nostro cervello e provocando la sensazione di dolore. Questi nervi rilasciano anche sostanze che possono influenzare le cellule immunitarie vicine. Il progetto NEURIMMUNE, finanziato dal Consiglio europeo della ricerca, mira a comprendere come il sistema immunitario e quello nervoso collaborino in risposta a infezioni e lesioni. I ricercatori si concentreranno sul ruolo dei neuroni sensoriali e della sensibilità al dolore nelle risposte immunitarie, studiando modelli murini geneticamente modificati.
Obiettivo
Survival of living organisms depends on their capacity to develop defence mechanisms against environmental challenges that cause tissue damage and infections. These protective functions involve the nervous system and the immune system, two systems traditionally considered as independent. However anatomical and cellular bases for bidirectional interactions between them have been established and a new paradigm on a regulatory role of the nervous system on immune functions is emerging.
Pain is one of the major signs of inflammation. Upon acute injury, inflammation or infections noxious signals are perceived by nociceptors present in tissues, such as the skin. These sensory neurons convey the damaging information to the brain and release a number of mediators locally that could modulate immunity. The goal of this project is to decipher the functional role of sensory neurons and pain sensitivity on immune responses. We will tackle this highly challenging question by studying the immune responses to vaccination in genetic mouse models in which skin innervation by nociceptors is deficient. Our preliminary results are very promising as we already demonstrated that deficits in sensory skin innervation affect both the innate and adaptive immune responses to intradermal vaccine. We will further study the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in this local and systemic modulation of the immune response by the nervous system. As a complementary approach, we will address the role of an exacerbated pain response on immunity through the selective stimulation of nociceptive neurons in wild type animals.
This interdisciplinary study is designed to provide new insights into how the nervous system instructs the immune system. Results from NEURIMMUNE are expected to open new avenues of research on the integrated host response to pathogens with important implications for the design of innovative prophylactic vaccines and therapies.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiology
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringfibers
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccines
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinephysiologyhomeostasis
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantIstituzione ospitante
75654 Paris
Francia