Imaging technique sheds light on hidden world of inflammation
Posted on 12 March 2010
Researchers in the Centre for Immunology and Infection have used a technique known as 2-photon microscopy to investigate inflammation in organs targeted by the parasite that causes the disease leishmaniasis.
The technique allowed them to examine the inflammatory nodules, called granulomas, that form around the parasite and to see in real time how killer T lymphocyte cells enter these granulomas and target the infection.
Using 2-photon microscopy has opened a window into this previously hidden world of inflammation
Professor Paul Kaye
This information will help in the development of new drugs that work in conjunction with the immune system and in developing vaccines. It will also improve the reliability of computer simulations of inflammation that can be used to reduce the use of animals in research.
The research was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust and is published today in the journal PloS Pathogens.
Professor Paul Kaye, Director of the Centre for Immunology and Infection, said: “Little is known about granulomas despite the fact the body produces them in response to a range of diseases from tuberculosis to rheumatoid arthritis.
“Using 2-photon microscopy has opened a window into this previously hidden world of inflammation with remarkable results.”
The latest findings are part of long term research by the Centre into leishmaniasis, a disease which affects around two million people every year. The disease can leave disfiguring scars and kills around 70,000 people annually.
Notes to editors:
- Leishmaniasis is a fly-borne disease caused by single-celled parasites called Leishmania. There are approximately 2 million cases of leishmaniasis per year in 88 countries worldwide, of which 500,000 are of the potentially fatal form of the disease (visceral leishmaniasis).
- The Centre for Immunology and Infection (CII) is a joint research centre created by the Hull York Medical School and the Department of Biology at the University of York. Research within the CII ranges from fundamental studies on the pathogenesis of infectious disease through to first-in-man clinical research.
- The research “Dynamic Imaging of Experimental Leishmania donovani-Induced Hepatic Granulomas Detects Kupffer Cell-Restricted Antigen Presentation to Antigen-Specific CD8+ T Cells” is available in full at http://www.plospathogens.org.
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