Participants sought: Skin testing for measuring immunity in healthy adults

Participants sought for immune system research, see more

Can you help us compare the immune system of young and older adults with skin patch testing?

We would appreciate 2 hours of your time spread across 4 visits to the Alfred Centre (99 Commercial Road, Melbourne 3004) for this research. We are looking for healthy people aged 18-35 years or 65 years and over who do not:

Monash scientists find ‘bad guy’ blood cells vital to gut health

Eosinophil granulocytes in inflammatory infiltrate. This type of
white blood cell is responsible for combating parasites, and has a
role in mechanisms associated with allergy and asthma.
Image: Shutterstock

by Anne Crawford

A Monash University collaboration has found that eosinophils, a type of white blood cell commonly associated with asthma and allergy, play an important role in maintaining a healthy gut.

Professor Nicola Harris, from Monash’s Central Clinical School, made the surprising discovery working with study co-lead, Professor Kathy McCoy from the University of Calgary, and scientists from Switzerland. Their paper was published in Immunity 16 June.

Dietary fibre in gut may help with skin allergies: Monash study

by Anne Crawford

A Monash University study exploring the emerging gut-skin axis has found that microbial fermentation of dietary fibre in the gut can protect against allergic skin disease. The research could potentially lead to novel treatments to prevent or treat allergies.

Professor Ben Marsland from the Central Clinical School’s Department of Immunology, together with Swiss colleagues at the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV), showed that the fermentation of fibre in the gut by bacteria and subsequent production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), in particular butyrate, protected against atopic dermatitis in mice.

See faculty story

The early-life human airway microbiome is a dynamic multi-kingdom entity

See explainer video (1:38 mins) of Pattaroni et al's research.

Video produced by www.researchsquare.com

There is increasing evidence that the airway microbiome plays a key role in the establishment of respiratory health by interacting with the developing immune system early in life.

Ms Céline Pattaroni, in Professor Ben Marsland's group at the Department of Immunology and Pathology, won a L.E.W. Carty grant of $300,000 last year to study mechanisms of asthma in early childhood.

Some of the work that formed the basis of that grant application has now been published in the journal ‘Microbiome’ (IF 14.7). It describes the bacterial and fungal members of the airway microbiome and how they align with the developing immune system in the first post-natal week. 

Helminths, immune response and gut microbiota: Prof Nicola Harris featured in The Scientist

The Scientist features Prof Nicola Harris's research on intestinal
parasites in an article,"Return of the Worms"

Professor Nicola Harris works on the complex relationship between our gut microbiome, intestinal parasites - helminths - and our immune system. Her research has been featured in The Scientist.

Catherine Offord writes:

"Increasingly seen as a mediator of human health in its own right, with hypothesized effects on everything from intestinal inflammation and immune development to cancer progression and mental health, the gut microbiome could also be an important piece of a worm’s relationship with its host.

World first study of infant and newborn airways microbiome throws light on origins of asthma

Professor Ben Marsland

A world first study of the bacteria living in the lower respiratory tract of “healthy” newborns and young babies has shown that bacterial communities form within the first 2 months post-natally, and that these bacteria interact with the immune system in ways that could potentially influence its development.

The study, led by Professor Ben Marsland, a veski Innovation Fellow in the Department of Immunology and Pathology at Central Clinical School, Monash University, is published today in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.

Fibre in diet linked to flu protection

Professor Ben Marsland in the lab. Image: CHUV

It has long been known that a diet rich in fibre improves intestinal health and reduces inflammation in the gut. Now, a Monash University study shows that fibre can protect against the flu virus.

Professor Benjamin Marsland from the Department of Immunology and Pathology, Central Clinical School, together with Swiss colleagues, showed in mice that fibre fermented in the gut by bacteria countered influenza A, one of the most common viral diseases worldwide.

The findings, published today in Immunity, suggest that fermented fibre and byproducts of this process called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) could be investigated further for potential use in preventing and treating viral infections including the flu, and possibly as a supplement to improve the efficacy of the flu vaccine.

Immune system 'patrolling' cells further understood

By Dr Jodie Abramovitch

Within the immune system there are patrolling cells that are constantly scanning the body for signs of infection. They are known as antigen presenting cells. Dendritic cells (DC) are the most efficient example of an antigen presenting cell. When DC find an infection, they are able to alert other cells of the immune system to attack and destroy the infection. Therefore the functions of DC are really important in an effective immune response.

Associate Professor Mark Wright, Head of
the Leucocyte Membrane Protein Group
and senior author of this study

Tetraspanins are a type of protein that are found at the cell surface. Here they bind and bring together (“organise”) other proteins and receptors at the cell surface. CD37 and CD82 are tetraspanins that allow DC to communicate with other immune cells that there is an infection present. CD37 is important for movement of DC to lymph nodes where they find other immune cells. The role of CD82 in DC migration is unclear.

In a recent study published by the Leucocyte Membrane Protein laboratory from the Department of Immunology and Pathology, in collaboration with Melbourne University and international colleagues, the roles of CD37 and CD82 in co-ordinating DC function in response to infection was assessed.

By studying activated DC, it was found that CD82 appeared to have an opposing function to CD37. Whereas CD37 expression was down-regulated following activation of DC, CD82 was up-regulated and restrained DC migration to lymph nodes. DC that were deficient in either CD37 or CD82 were unable to become fully functional and DC that were deficient in CD82 were able to spread much further than CD37 deficient DC. Thus, unactivated DC were observed to have high CD37 expression and low CD82 expression leading to a highly mobile cell that is able to travel easily around the body. Activated DC (DC that have sensed an infection) have low CD37 expression and high CD82 expression which limits mobility of the DC but is able to efficiently signal to immune cells that an infection is present.

This study has detailed a biology of DC that was not previously known and highlights the importance of tetraspanins in coordinating DC function. 

Reference: Jones EL, Wee JL, Demaria MC, Blakeley J, Ho PK, Vega-Ramos J, Villadangos JA, van Spriel AB, Hickey MJ, Hämmerling GJ, Wright MD. Dendritic Cell Migration and Antigen Presentation Are Coordinated by the Opposing Functions of the Tetraspanins CD82 and CD37. J Immunol. 2016 Feb: 196; 978-87. 

doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1500357

Explainer: what is the immune system?

Department of immunology's Dr Fabien Vincent , Prof Fabienne Mackay (Head of the Department) and Dr Kim Murphy speak on the importance of the immune system and its two interwoven components: the innate and adaptive immune systems, and what happens when the immune system goes wrong.  Article link