Adrian Hayday - Gamma Delta T cells: conserved cells with essential functions

Some extraordinary clinical successes of immunotherapy have had game-changing effects on the way we view the interaction of the immune system with our tissues.  In that regard, we have focussed on the fact that many murine, “non-lymphoid” tissues, such as the skin, gut and reproductive tissue are commonly rich in tissue-resident gd T cells. We have shown that such cells make rapid innate-like responses to molecular markers of tissue perturbation, rather than requiring the clonal activation of the T cell receptor via specific antigens.  Moreover, we showed that skin gd T cells protect mice from cutaneous carcinogens. Collectively these data argue for the existence of site-specific tissue immunosurveillance compartments of critical benefit to the host. However, whether an analogous situation exists in humans has remained unclear. The data provided in this presentation will demonstrate that humans do indeed harbour large, organ-specific gdT cell compartments with strong parallels to their murine counterparts.  Furthermore, we show that the regulation of such compartments is mediated in both species by novel, organ-specific B7-like molecules expressed by epithelial cells and that constitute de facto local immune checkpoints.  The biology of these interactions will be the focus of discussion. With this knowledge, we are developing a programme of human gd T cell immunotherapy.

Intervenant

Senior Group Leader, Francis Crick Institute - Kay Glendinning Professor of Immunobiology, King’s College London co-Lead, Clinical Academic Grouping in Genetics, Rheumatology, Infection, Immunology & Dermatology King’s Health Partners.  Trained in biochemistry and molecular virology, Adrian Hayday began studying immunology in 1982 at MIT, where he and his colleagues first described the wholly unanticipated T cell receptor gamma chain genes. Since then he has shown gamma-delta T cells to be clearly distinct from conventional T cells, providing the first evidence for their rapid responses to tissue dysreguation, rather than to specific pathogens, and their profound capacity to protect against carcinogenesis.  This has promoted his and other teams’ interest in the cells’ clinical application, and with it the associated challenges of human immune monitoring and intervention.  He is also the lead-investigator of a high-throughput immunogenetics screen of mutant mouse strains. Adrian Hayday has authored 212 papers, of which he is first, last, or corresponding author on 120, and of which 150 are original research contributions.  He has received many awards, including the William Clyde deVane Medal, Yale’s highest honour for scholarship and teaching, and an honorary degree from King’s College London. He was elected to lead the British Society of Immunology (2005-09) and has organized many scientific meetings including the 2014 Gordon Conference in Immunochemistry and Immunobiology, and the Scientific programme for the 2012 European Congress of Immunology. He has formally advised many institutions including Institut Pasteur; the Max Planck Institute; Kyoto University, the Wellcome Trust, and Cancer Research UK, whose science committee he chairs.  He was on the MedImmune SAB; currently advises a small start-up, TransImmune; and is working with Cancer Research Technologies to establish Gamma Delta Therapeutics.


2^nd IGO meeting

La seconde édition des conférences organisées par le Labex IGO (IGO meeting) s’est déroulée les 21 et 22 avril 2016 à la Faculté de pharmacie de Nantes. Cette conférence a rassemblé 160 spécialistes de l’immunologie, de la transplantation et de l’oncologie. Des orateurs français et étrangers (USA, Grande-Bretagne, Pays-Bas, Espagne, Italie, Suisse) sont venus exposer leurs travaux et les dernières avancées dans leurs domaines de recherche. Des sessions (communications orales et posters) étaient également réservées aux jeunes chercheurs pour qu’ils puissent présenter leurs travaux et ainsi favoriser les échanges avec leurs collègues et les chercheurs séniors. Ce 2^nd IGO meeting, en créant un environnement propice à l’initiation de nouvelles collaborations à l’intérieur et au-delà du périmètre du Labex IGO, a été un vrai succès scientifique.