T cell-driven gut-lung interaction in the resolution of asthma (B08)

• Subject Area: Pneumology, Thoracic Surgery
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 261193037

Project B08 investigates gut-to-lung crosstalk in the context of chronic inflammation. Based on the discovery that a substantial number of T cells in the lungs of asthma patients express integrin α4β7, it is hypothesized that gut intestinal inflammation triggers T cell trafficking to the lungs that subsequently predisposes for asthma. The project will address the question whether and how T cells and IL3R-expressing eosinophil subsets traffic along the gut-lung-axis and explores how this might be targeted for the resolution of asthma. It will interrogate whether IL-3 might counteract this process and promote immunologic homeostasis and less trafficking of T cells from the gut to the lungs.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1181: Checkpoints for Resolution of Inflammation
• Applicant Institution: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
• Project Heads: Professorin Susetta Finotto, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Sebastian Zundler