Nanoscale Organisation of Immune Cell Surfaces

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The Nanoscale Organisation of Immune Cell Surfaces

• IRAS ID

  315407

• Contact name

  Daniel M. Davis

• Sponsor organisation

  Imperial College London

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  N/A, N/A

• Duration of Study in the UK

  5 years, 2 months, 30 days

• Research summary

  Each of us relies on our immune system for survival. Recent discoveries have equipped us to develop new kinds of medicine which help the system better fight cancer, for example, or dampen it to thwart auto-immune disease. Super-resolution microscopes, celebrated in the 2014 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, are one of the tools that allow us to study immune cells in unprecedented detail. Building on my training in physics and immunology, my research team has used these microscopes to study the changing arrangements of molecules in individual immune cells. Our hypothesis is that immune responses are regulated, in part, by miniscule, nanometre-scale, changes to the organisation of immune cell surfaces. The study will involve the isolation of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from blood products obtained from the National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the Manchester Allergy, Respiratory & Thoracic Surgery (ManARTS) biobank. Ethical approval to work with samples from the biobank is given as part of a successful application to use these samples and is not being sought as part of this application. We primarily use leucocyte cones, a by-product of the apheresis process used in platelet donations, that NHSBT make available for purchase as non-clinical components for research as they would otherwise be discarded. Donors give generic consent for research use as part of the donation process and are not identifiable. We will test how the surface organisation of specific white blood cells (Natural Killer cells and macrophages) varies in health and disease, as well as in individuals with variations in immune system genes. We will establish how these changes impact thresholds at which immune responses are switched on or off. As well as understanding how immune cells work, we hope to uncover new ways in which medicines can affect their activity.

• REC name

  South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  22/SW/0076

• Date of REC Opinion

  11 May 2022

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion