Dendritic cells in human asthma : regulation by TSLP and role in disease persistence

Abstract

This thesis aimed at studying the role of dendritic cells in allergic asthma. In the first part of the work, we demonstrated that allergic asthmatics have a higher proportion of myeloid dendritic cells (mDC) expressing the receptor for thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), a pro-allergic epithelial cytokine, as compared to controls. This provides mDC from allergic asthmatics a particular propensity to induce Th2 and Th9 responses following stimulation with TSLP. In the second part of the work, we investigated the potential role of dendritic cell in asthma recovery. Indeed, although the natural history of asthma includes in some patients periods of disease remission, the underlying mechanisms are unknown. We studied myeloid dendritic cell functionality in a well-controlled setting, namely patients with occupational asthma with either remission or persistence following complete allergen avoidance. We showed that blood dendritic cells from patients with occupational asthma and persistent disease despite allergen avoidance are imprinted with pro-Th2 activity. All in all, this work contributes to a better understanding of dendritic cell biology in asthma, and further points to those cells and their environment as potential targets for future therapies in asthma.(MED - Sciences médicales) -- UCL, 201