Role of lymphoid tissue inducers cells in adult lymph nodes during the steady state and during immunological challenge.

• Applicant: Dr. Fabian Guendel-Rojas
• Subject Area: Immunology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465745955

During immunological challenge, secondary lymphoid organs undergo a dramatic remodeling of their structure. In particular, lymph nodes (LNs) increase in size and volume, and the original structure of the immunological niches is deeply modified. This physiological adaptation to a challenge occurs to support the increase in cellularity due to clonal expansion of antigen-selected lymphocytes. The mechanisms driving these structural changes and their consequence on the immune response remain unexplored. Lymphoid tissue inducer cells (LTis) are a subset of type 3 innate lymphocytes. LTis are essential for LN formation; however, their functions in the adult organ remain unclear. This project will address the role of LTis in the adult LN and their capacity to control the quality of the immune response. We hypothesize that LTis have a major role in controlling the structure of adult lymph nodes in the steady state and during the course of an immune response. We will take advantage of a newly developed mouse model, which allows us to specifically deplete LTis in adult lymph nodes. With this we will interrogate the impact of LTis on the renewal, differentiation and function of the stromal cell compartment, which is known to play a fundamental role in the structural adaptation of LNs to immunological challenge. In addition, we will also be able to interrogate the impact of LTis on other critical tissue resident cells such as SCS macrophages and DCs, which have a major impact in the induction of the immune response in lymph nodes.Understanding the mechanism underpinning these structural changes, required to mount a proper immune response in lymph nodes, could have potential benefits to ameliorate vaccine strategies.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: France
• Host: Professor Dr. Gérard Eberl