Seminar by Senior Researcher Daniel Hargbøl Madsen, Center for Cancer Immune Therapy (CCIT)
Seminar title: The extracellular matrix as a regulator of immune activity.
The LEO Foundation Skin Immunology Research Center is pleased to welcome Senior Researcher Daniel Hargbøl Madsen from the Center for Cancer Immune Therapy (CCIT), Herlev and Gentofte Hospital.
Abstract:
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex network of fibrillar proteins and proteoglycans, which in addition to forming a physical scaffold that holds tissues together can affect numerous biological processes by eliciting biochemical and biophysical signaling. However, little attention has been given to the possibility that the ECM can have immune modulatory functions. During cancer progression, the ECM is extensively remodeled and the formed tumor-specific ECM is known to have pro-tumorigenic functions. Using three-dimensional cell culture assays, we have investigated how collagen type I, which is the main ECM component in solid tumors, can affect the activity of immune cells. We have observed that T cells respond to the surrounding collagen by becoming less cytotoxic and instead acquire a more immunosuppressive phenotype. Furthermore, collagen can also influence macrophage activity and make them more immunosuppressive. Using inducible conditional collagen knockout mice, we are currently investigating the consequences of reducing collagen levels in tumors in vivo.
Our studies identify collagen-induced T cell suppression as a novel and conceptually different immune modulatory mechanism, which could play an important role in cancer and in other pathological conditions as well as in as well as in normal physiological conditions.
Time and place: 20 May 2021, 14:30-16:00, https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/j/66045523220