{"id":2,"date":"2020-03-28T08:57:53","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T08:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2024-10-04T12:11:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T12:11:49","slug":"sample-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macrophage metabolism in the pleural cavity
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Internal organs are contained within three fluid-filled serous cavities: the peritoneum, which envelops the abdominal viscera; the pleural cavity enclosing the lungs and the pericardium which protects and anchors the heart. Fluid is secreted by the mesothelium lining the serosal membranes ensuring lubrication of the serous cavities. Serous fluid contains resident macrophages known as large cavity macrophages (LCM).<\/p>\n

\"Green
Pleural cavity LCM (Green) which have taken up Oxidised-Low Density Lipoprotein (Red)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following exposure to IL-4, either delivered exogenously or induced due to infection or type-2 inflammation, LCM will undergo a programme of M(IL-4) induced activation and proliferation increasing their number rapidly over the duration of the IL-4 exposure. Dedicated immunological niches called fat-associated lymphoid clusters (FALCs) develop under the intercellular pores formed by stomata in the mesothelium of specialised adipose tissues within the serous cavities. FALCs are sites of local IgM production during infection & inflammation. Our lab is interested in whether IgM is a co-factor for pleural LCM activation & division within the pleural cavity during Type-2 mediated inflammation. We are also investigating how LCM from the serous cavities utilise cholesterol, and what role oxidised phospholipids play in LCM biology during inflammation.<\/p>\n

This work was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the MRC.<\/p>\n

~~~Please see additional pages below for our other research projects ~~~<\/p>\n

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Investigating the early inflammatory events occurring at the initiation of mesothelioma within the pleural cavity
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\"FALC
Fat associated lymphoid cluster within a body cavity adipose tissue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Investigations are underway to try and unpick the inflammatory cascade that is initiated within the pleural cavity following arrival of long, bio-persistent fibres such as asbestos and multi-walled carbon nanotubes.\u00a0 We aim to determine the stromal-immune micro-environment during pleural cavity inflammation in order to better understand how mesothelioma develops & can be targeted.<\/p>\n

This project was initiated as a PhD studentship funded by the Sir John Fisher Foundation and is now part of a wider CRUK programme grant in collaboration with Prof Marion MacFarlane at the University of Cambridge & Prof Daniel Murphy & Dr Seth Coffelt at the University of Glasgow.<\/p>\n

These in vitro & in vivo studies are complemented by clinical investigations quantifying the immune environment of pleural fluid isolated from patients with mesothelioma in a collaborative project with Dr Claire Rooney and facilitated by the Predict-Meso network . This study if funded by a Mesothelioma pump-priming grant from the Asthma & Lung UK.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Stromal-Immune interactions in the body cavities<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Scanning Electron Micrograph showing a murine omentum 18h following intra-peritoneal thioglycollate injection A FALC is pictured on the surface of the mesothelium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We previously defined novel populations of FALC cover cells (See Jackson-Jones, Immunity 2020); these cells are mesothelial in origin and are spatially positioned over the surface of fat associated lymphoid clusters. FALC cover cells have specialised immune functions including recruitment and modulation of immune cells and the response to viruses. Ongoing work is confirming whether these cells have comparable functions within the pleural cavity and what their role is during infection, inflammation & cancer.<\/p>\n

This work was undertaken when Lucy was a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr Cecile Benezech at the University of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Neuro-Immune Axis of African Trypanosomiasis<\/strong><\/p>\n

The African trypanosome, a parasite that causes sleeping sickness, is able to infect humans and survive by evading the innate and adaptive immune system. During the second stage of an infection, parasites cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) and enter the brain causing severe neurological disturbances including hallucinations and disturbances in sleep. We currently have little understanding of how trypanosomes enter the brain or affect brain function, or how they perturb the immune system. Increased understanding of the Neuro-Immune axis, the link between the brain and the immune system, suggest a potential link between the two phenomena. Our initial work on an infection model has identified parasites localised to the adipose tissue and gut. We have identified significant enlargement of the omentum (a specialised adipose tissue that contains small clusters of immune cells) and massive expansion of the omental immune cell population.\u00a0 As the intestinal epithelial immune response drives inflammation along the gut-brain axis, and the omentum is important in host protection following intestinal-epithelial breakdown, these results provide a potential link between infection, immune response and perturbed brain function. This project is an on-going collaboration with Dr John Worthington<\/a>, Dr Neil Dawson<\/a> & Dr Mick Urbaniak<\/a> and is funded by a Faculty of Heath and Medicine PhD studentship to Chloe Barnes and the Dowager Eleanor Peel Trust.<\/p>\n

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Expansion of immune cell clusters and loss of adipose during trypanosome infection. <\/span>Whole-mount immunofluorescence staining of murine omentum from\u00a0 na\u00efve (Left) or <\/span>Trypanosome infected CD1 mouse (right). Green shows CD45 a marker of haematopoietic cells, red shows IgM antibody producing B lymphocytes, Blue shows T lymphocytes. Scale Bar = 50\u03bcM<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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Macrophage metabolism in the pleural cavity Internal organs are contained within three fluid-filled serous cavities: the peritoneum, which envelops the abdominal viscera; the pleural cavity enclosing the lungs and the pericardium which protects and anchors the heart. Fluid is secreted by the mesothelium lining the serosal membranes ensuring lubrication of the serous cavities. Serous fluid… Continue reading Research<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1276,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","without-featured-image"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/jackson-jlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}