With our project in the SPP1937 we would like to link the research areas of autoimmune diseases (arthritis) and host pathogen interactions (helminths), both of which have captivated me through my scientific career. Innate immune mechanisms in arthritis remain under-investigated. We and others have shown that helminths induce n innate immune cell (ILC) types with potent immune modulating capacity with the theoretical potential to attenuate the severity of arthritis. Therefore, the main research aims are (1) to identify ILCs in inflammatory arthritis in humans and mice, (2) to characterize ILCs in bone turnover and (3) to evaluate the role of ILCs during inflammatory arthritis on bone turnover and the beneficial impact of helminth infections.


Publications
Zaiss MM, Maslowski KM, Mosconi I, Guenat N, Marsland BJ, Harris NL. IL-1β suppresses innate IL-25 and IL-33 production and maintains helminth chronicity. PLoS Pathog. 2013;9(8):e1003531. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003531. Epub 2013 Aug