Neuroimmune interactions in the skin, from molecular mechanisms to therapeutic perspectives
This seminar will be held online via MS Teams. Please register to receive Teams meeting link: https://sophie-ugolini-seminar.eventbrite.co.uk
Inflammation is a defence response to tissue damage that requires tight regulation in order to prevent impaired healing. Tissue-resident macrophages have a key role in tissue repair, but the precise molecular mechanisms that regulate the balance between inflammatory and pro-repair macrophage responses during healing remain poorly understood. We demonstrated a major role for sensory neurons in promoting the tissue-repair function of macrophages. In a sunburn-like model of skin damage in mice, the conditional ablation of sensory neurons expressing the Gαi-interacting protein (GINIP) results in defective tissue regeneration and in dermal fibrosis. Elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanisms revealed a crucial role for the neuropeptide TAFA4, which is produced in the skin by C-low threshold mechanoreceptors—a subset of GINIP+ neurons. TAFA4 modulates the inflammatory profile of macrophages directly in vitro. In vivo studies in Tafa4-deficient mice revealed that TAFA4 promotes the production of IL-10 by dermal macrophages after UV-induced skin damage. This TAFA4–IL-10 axis also ensures the survival and maintenance of IL-10+TIM4+ dermal macrophages, reducing skin inflammation and promoting tissue regeneration. These results reveal a neuroimmune regulatory pathway driven by the neuropeptide TAFA4 that promotes the anti-inflammatory functions of macrophages and prevents fibrosis after tissue damage, and could lead to new therapeutic perspectives for inflammatory diseases.
Date: 23 November 2021, 13:00 (Tuesday, 7th week, Michaelmas 2021)
Venue: Venue to be announced
Speaker: Dr Sophie Ugolini (Centre d'immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML))
Organising department: Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
Organiser contact email address: events@ndcn.ox.ac.uk
Host: Dr Alexander Davies (Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford)
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://sophie-ugolini-seminar.eventbrite.co.uk
Cost: Free
Audience: Members of the University, other Universities and relevant institutions
Editor: Niki Andrew