Virgine De Wilde, MD, FRS research fellow working under the mentorship of Alain Le Moine, recently demonstrated that the transfer of T lymphocytes into mice devoid of T and B cells dramatically enhances the inflammatory response to lipopolysaccharide, a major bacterial toxin. This observation shed light on the risk of septic shock upon hematopoietic stem cell or bone marrow transplantation in immunodeficient children or patients with cancer. The work, performed in collaboration with Guillaume Oldenhove at the IBMM and Jean-Marc Verdebout at the IPG (Institute for Pathology and Genetics) is published in the January 2008 issue of the European Journal of Immunology, the official journal of the European Federation of Immunological Societies.

De Wilde V, Benghiat FS, Novalrivas M, Lebrun JF, Kubjak C, Oldenhove G, Verdebout JM, Goldman M, Le Moine A. Endotoxin hyperresponsiveness upon CD4(+) T cell reconstitution in lymphopenic mice: control by natural regulatory T cells. Eur J Immunol 2008 ; 38 : 48-53.