Role of mononuclear phagocyte-epithelium crosstalk in alveolar repair

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jürgen Lohmeyer
• Subject Area: Pneumology, Thoracic Surgery
• Term: from 2009 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 161182503

The repair of a damaged alveolar epithelial barrier is impacted by cross-talk between a variety of cell types that are residing in or attracted to the lung. Based on our recent results demonstrating the induction of alveolar epithelial type II cell proliferation by macrophage derived signals, this project aims to systematically explore the contribution of distinct subsets of resident or newly-recruited mononuclear phagocytes to alveolar repair in acute lung injury (ALI). To this end, co-cultures of mononuclear phagocytes and alveolar epithelial cells will be used, as well as established animal models of ALI/ARDS, employing lung challenge with bacterial endo-/exotoxins, bacteria and viruses to pinpoint the reparative signaling events which are cell-specifically induced during mononuclear phagocyte-epithelium cross-talk after inflammatory/infectious challenge. Subsequently, the effects of deleting or over-expressing identified reparative molecules on the repair capacity of the mononuclear phagocyteepithelium network in ALI/ARDS models will be studied. Finally, BALF samples from ventilated pneumonia patients will be analyzed for their alveolar repair capacity to evaluate the clinical significance of the regenerative pathways defined in experimental models.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professorin Dr. Susanne Valerie Herold, Ph.D.