Barrier Immunity

Our research

Defined physical borders are not only set between countries, but also between our living self and the outside environment. Our body’s borders are the mucocutaneous barrier organs such as the skin and the gut that are the very first battlefields when facing an infection or injury. Of note, every barrier organ is also inhabited by a diverse community of beneficial microbes collectively termed microbiota that facilitate our homeostasis, overall health and barrier integrity. Immunity is our internal defense system that acts with antibody production to eliminate trespassers but also to facilitate faster and more efficient wound healing, therefore the immunological guardianship of barrier organs is at the very core of human health.

Our lab’s focus is to understand how mucocutaneous barrier organs mount their defense mechanisms against invaders (such as bacteria or viruses) yet simultaneously coexisting peacefully with symbionts (microbiota) and how we can strengthen these live borders through local vaccination and conscious lifestyle choices. The gastrointestinal tract has been long studied for its sophisticated network of structural and immune elements, including B cell activation and antibody production, but the skin was thought to be completely devoid of B cells. Our recent discovery disproves this notion by introducing a paradigm shift in the field: (1) skin does host resident B cells and (2) microbiota can stimulate B cell responses to produce protective antibodies in the skin. Better understanding of tissue-specific mechanisms in humoral immunity will advance novel vaccination approaches and therapies for B cell-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Aims

1. To unravel the role of skin B cells and topical antibodies in health and diseases such as hidradenitis suppurativa.
2. To identify tissue determinants associated with hair follicle and skin stem cell niche responsible for local immune activation and antibody production.
3. To decipher host microbiota control of B cell immunity at mucocutaneous barrier.
4. To advance non-invasive vaccination strategies for protection of barrier tissues.

Impact

Uncharted research field of skin’s humoral immunity could unravel how the onset of immune-mediated skin inflammatory conditions evolves. By decoding highly coordinated interaction between cutaneous B cells, microbiota and tissue intrinsic factors we will open the door to novel clinical approaches and more potent and safer therapeutics for patients with unmet need. 

Team

(name linked to profile in Lund University research portal)

Inta Gribonika

Principal Investigator, inta [dot] gribonika [at] med [dot] lu [dot] se (inta[dot]gribonika[at]med[dot]lu[dot]se)

Marina Mazariegos Leon

Research Engineer, marina.mazariegos_leon@med.lu.se

Helena Fritz

Research Engineer, helena.fritz@med.lu.se

Katrin Hector

Postdoc,katrin.hector@med.lu.se

Miruna Drelciuc

MSc Thesis student