Dr Philippe Pierre (DRCE CNRS) is the director of Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML) and head of the team Biology of dendritic cells. He will be giving a lecture on:
Exploring the integration of stress and innate immunity
Abstract
The cellular Integrated Stress Response (ISR) consists in an important reduction of protein synthesis in response to various stress, while establishing a transcriptional program to favor stress resolution and cell survival. The ISR, although central to many biological functions, has remained poorly explored in physiological conditions. We developed a novel exploratory research axis at the interface of cell biology, biochemistry and immunology, aiming at unravel how the ISR and associated mRNA translation are regulated and necessary to control immunity. We focus on dendritic cells (DCs), that naturally display an ISR-like response, which impacts gene expression and other biochemical functions by quantitatively and qualitatively regulating protein synthesis. DC orchestrate T cell-dependent immune responses, and are exposed to potent modulatory mechanisms that favor inflammation or conversely promote tolerance. Our expertise in DC biology, translation regulation represents a unique opportunity to understand the role of the ISR both mechanistically and physiologically. The discovery of patients susceptible to familial autoimmunity and displaying mutations in stress response genes, reinforce the relevance of this project for human health.
