Tuesday May 17, from 12.00 to 13.00

Point Centre, auditorium Albert Claude

Common seminar IBMM-IMI with Adrian Liston, KUL, Autoimmune genetics section, Leuven, Belgium

This seminar will be followed by a lunch.

"Asymmetric control immune regulation by Foxp3+ regulatory T cells"

Foxp3+ regulatory T cells play a pivotal role in maintaining self tolerance and immune homeostasis, and are well characterised as acting as the "breaks" of the immune system. In this seminar we will discuss the new evidence suggesting that regulatory T cells are uneven in this regulation, creating a T helper type 1 bias in the immune system - in essence, regulatory T cells act as the "steering wheel" as well as the "brakes". This asymmetry in regulation can be observed through titrating down the number of regulatory T cells in the system, and observing comparative changes in the T helper type 1 and type 2 arms of the immune system. Asymmetry is introduced into the system through an additional layer of regulation mediated by apoptotic control, which can be replicated through the provision of CTLA4. These results indicate that the Th2 arm of the immune system is under tighter control by regulatory T cells than the Th1 arm, suggesting that Th2-driven diseases may be more responsive to regulatory T cell manipulation.