The Allen Parasite Immunology Lab
in
The Institute of Immunology & Infection Research
and
The Institute of Evolutionary Biology
School of Biological Sciences
The University of Edinburgh
Nematode parasites typically induce a ‘type 2’ immune response that contrasts sharply with the ‘type 1’ response associated with most microbial infections. This is true whether the parasite lives entirely within the gastro-intestinal tract (e.g. whipworm, pinworm), or entirely within host tissue (e.g. filarial worms in the lymphatics), or whether the life cycle combines tissue migration with GI residence (e.g. hookworm, Ascaris).
Our laboratory studies the interaction between these multicellular parasites and their hosts with a particular emphasis on understanding in both practical and evolutionary terms the function of the ‘type 2’ immune response. The importance of ‘type 2’ immunity for expulsion of GI nematodes is well recognised. We are particurlary interested in filarial nematodes that live in the tissues such as those that cause lymphatic filariasis (Elephantiasis) and onchocerchiasis (River Blindness). We have used a new model of filarial infection to show that type 2 responses can also mediate resistance to tissue dwelling nematodes and are using this model to study this host-parasite interaction at the molecular, cellular and whole animal level.
The findings from our lab have application not only to infectious disease but also to the regulation of inflammatory processes in general. We are particularly interested in macrophages activated in the ‘type 2’ environment generated during helminth infection. These cells are highly plastic in function and in response to type 2 cytokines have both regulatory and anti-parasitic function. However, their most important role may be to mediate tissue repair.
We are also asking how the immune system copes with the conflicting demands made by type 1- (e.g. malaria, mycobacteria, and salmonella) vs. type 2- (e.g. filarial and gastro-intestinal nematodes) inducing pathogens. For the study of co-infection, we are collaborating with ecologists and evolutionary biologists to use mathematical approaches rarely applied to fundamental immunology.
You might be interested in listening to a recent story on lymphatic filariasis from the BBC radio programme "From Our Own Correspondent": Lymphatic Filariasis in Ghana or reading this story from the New York Times "Beyond Swollen Limbs, a Disease's Hidden agony"
