Search for effective molecules in the generation, expansion, survival and functional activity of human natural and induced regulatory T cells

• Grant number: 11/21781-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: April 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Cellular Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Verônica Porto Carreiro de Vasconcellos Coelho
• Grantee: Alessandra Soares Schanoski
• Host Institution: Instituto do Coração Professor Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini (INCOR). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Regulatory t cells (Treg), either natural or induced, are essential in the maintenance of organism homeostases and presents potent application in clinical tolerance induction in the context of autoimmune diseases and transplants. Besides the enormous efforts in in vitro Tregs generation, it is important to develop optimized protocols to make feasible the cellular therapy using Treg cells. It is necessary new strategies to Tregs generation, expansion, as well as to increase its survival and to stabilize and augment its suppressor activity. Juan Lafaille's group demonstrated that ²-catenin stability is an important approach to amplify CD4/CD25/Foxp3+ cells survival and its suppressor activity in a murine model, but it remains unknown if humans will present the same results. Besides that, our previous results demonstrated (FAPESP Process: 07/59766-1R and 03/04721-2), that there are some molecules which induces immunoregulatory potential (Vitamin A and D and N7 peptide from HSP60). Our goal is to determine if these molecules could present a biological activity in human Treg cells, both natural and induced, triggering its generation, expansion, survival and/or enhance Tregs suppressor activity, in vitro, intending its application in clinical cellular therapy.