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The role of oestrogen in experimental atopic asthma, and guide future research on sex-related variations in atopic asthma susceptibility/intensity
Neutrophils are a type of immune cell that can trigger inflammation and may play a role in the development of MS.
The overarching aim of this project is to understand how plasmacytoid dendritic cells function in children with asthma and how genes and environmental stimuli influence these cells.
Our team aims to better understand how the immune response to immune challenges, such as viral infections can influence the risk of developing asthma or autoimmune disease.
The way the immune system operates differs between males and females. This is due to both differential expression of immune-related genes from the sex chromosomes as well as the immune modulatory properties of sex hormones. Together, these effects contribute to a skewed prevalence of disease and disease course between males and females, including allergic-, infectious-, autoimmune-, and cancerous disease.
Neutrophils are the most abundant immune cell in circulation. However, due to a number of technical challenges for researchers, including the neutrophil's short lifespan and difficulties with preservation, they are often discarded during blood processing and thus ignored in cohort studies. As such, the contribution of neutrophils to disease and their involvement in disease mechanisms is less explored compared with other immune cell types.