Cutaneous T cells and disease severity in adult atopic dermatitis

Strong evidence for T cell activation in atopic dermatitis disease pathogenesis exists, as demonstrated by the clinical efficacy of therapeutic T cell cytokine blockade. The subsets of human T cells capable of contributing to pathology of this disease remain poorly defined, lending importance to the characterization of T cells and their cytokines within active skin lesions of patients with atopic dermatitis. We hypothesize that novel effector T cell subtypes resident in human skin contribute to disease activity, particularly in adults. Using our newly validated methods for immunophenotyping T cells from human skin biopsies, we have identified heterogeneous sub-types of skin T cells secreting the pathogenic cytokine IL-13 from the lesional skin of atopic patients. We propose to combine the world-class human clinical studies expertise at Innovaderm Research, Montreal with state-of-the-art immunophenotyping techniques at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center in order to identify the contribution of these different sub-types of T cells in the severity and chronicity of disease in adult atopic patients.

Faculty Supervisor:

Carolyn JACK

Student:

Partner:

Innovaderm

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

Program: