Vulnerability and ageing
of the immune system
Our team is focusing on questions related to the causes of the immune competence deterioration during the course of adult life, and their consequences on human health. Besides chronological age, weakening of the immune system can result from clinical situations associated to an accelerated immune ageing such as infections, transplantation and cancer. Improving our comprehension of immune vulnerability and ageing mechanisms will impact our appreciation of immune responses in these contexts and provide cues for their control. This gain of knowledge is important in fundamental immunology but is also directly relevant to medicine and is a public health priority.
- Heads : Victor Appay & Julie Déchanet-Merville
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS UMR5164, INSERM ERL1303
Discover
We are doing human basic and translational research. It involves patient cohort based studies and immunomonitoring in infectious, malignant, and transplantion contexts, to investigate the decline of immune competence due to chronological aging, chronic inflammation and immunosuppression. We concentrate on cellular (αβ and γδ T-cells) and humoral (B-cells) immunity in different settings: old age (>65y), persistent viral infections, cancer, and solid organ or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. When necessary we use mice models of infections or cancer. We study the induction, efficacy and maintenance or loss of lymphocyte responses, from early immune compartments (i.e. hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors) to late memory cells owing to new technological advances (coupling multi-parametric flow cytometry, microculture approaches, single cell molecular profile analyses and antigen receptor repertoire analyses). This knowledge will be applied to the development of new therapies (e.g. drug targeting and vaccination), tailored to patients in settings of ‘compromised’ immunity.
Impact of chronic infections on host immune response efficiency
Cancer as a cause or consequence of immune vulnerability
Impact of sepsis on the efficacy of immunity
Vulnerability of immunosuppressed transplant recipients: what are the mechanisms underlying rejection and immune tolerance?
Mitochondrial biology and innate immunity
Team Members
Publications
- Pymm, P, Tenzer, S, Wee, E, Weimershaus, M, Burgevin, A, Kollnberger, S et al.. Epitope length variants balance protective immune responses and viral escape in HIV-1 infection. Cell Rep. 2022;38 (9):110449. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110449. PubMed PMID:35235807 PubMed Central PMC9631117.
- Guerville, F, Vialemaringe, M, Cognet, C, Duffau, P, Lazaro, E, Cazanave, C et al.. Mechanisms of systemic low-grade inflammation in HIV patients on long-term suppressive antiretroviral therapy: the inflammasome hypothesis. AIDS. 2023;37 (7):1035-1046. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000003546. PubMed PMID:36928274 .
- Proietto, D, Dallan, B, Gallerani, E, Albanese, V, Llewellyn-Lacey, S, Price, DA et al.. Ageing Curtails the Diversity and Functionality of Nascent CD8+ T Cell Responses against SARS-CoV-2. Vaccines (Basel). 2023;11 (1):. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11010154. PubMed PMID:36679999 PubMed Central PMC9867380.
- Takahama, S, Ishige, K, Nogimori, T, Yasutomi, Y, Appay, V, Yamamoto, T et al.. Model for predicting age-dependent safety and immunomodulatory effects of STING ligands in non-human primates. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2023;28 :99-115. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2022.12.008. PubMed PMID:36620070 PubMed Central PMC9813482.
- Chevalier, L, Cochet, H, Mahida, S, S, SB, Benard, A, Cariou, T et al.. Resuming Training in High-Level Athletes After Mild COVID-19 Infection: A Multicenter Prospective Study (ASCCOVID-19). Sports Med Open. 2022;8 (1):83. doi: 10.1186/s40798-022-00469-0. PubMed PMID:35751748 PubMed Central PMC9233721.
- Ravaioli, F, Zampieri, M, Morandi, L, Pirazzini, C, Pellegrini, C, De Fanti, S et al.. DNA Methylation Analysis of Ribosomal DNA in Adults With Down Syndrome. Front Genet. 2022;13 :792165. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.792165. PubMed PMID:35571061 PubMed Central PMC9094685.
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