Research Group
- Dr. José Cohen, Principal Investigator
- Muriel Sudres, Research Associate
- Prof. David Klatzmann, Research Associate
- Dr. Benoît Salomon, Research Associate
- Béatrice Levacher, Research Associate
- Aurélie Trenado, Research Associate
- Prof. Benoît Barrou, Research Associate
- Dr. Frédéric Charlotte, Research Associate
Location
- Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière-Cervi, Paris, France
Title
- Generation of Foxp3-Transduced CD4+ Suppressive T Cells for Induction of Tolerance in Transplantation
Introduction: Transplantation of solid organs has become a conventional treatment for the failure of various organs. However, the long-term persistence of transplanted organs requires the continuous suppression of the recipient's immune responses using standard immunosuppressive drugs. These treatments are only partially effective and can be highly toxic for patients.
In the field of organ transplantation, it has been demonstrated in mice that a small population of cells belonging to the immune system, the so-called regulatory T cells can be used to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ. However, although very attractive, this strategy is hardly applicable to human at the moment.
Our goal is to generate another type of regulatory T cells, so called suppressor T cells that could be utilized to prevent rejection of transplant in human.
Procedure: Recent work showed that genetic engineering of conventional T cells, which represent the majority of T cells of the immune system; transfer them in suppressor T cells. Here, by gene therapy, we will generate suppressor cells that, we believe, will be capable of preventing graft rejection. Consequently, the therapeutic potential of the generated suppressive T cells will be tested in different experimental graft models.
Perspective: The generation of suppressive cells may be used in medicine in the future to induce long-term acceptance of organ transplants while avoiding immunosuppressive drugs and their associated side effects.