News Releases & Research Results Discovery of the key to effective therapy for fungal lung fibrosis: identification of the cell population contributing to lung tissue fibrosis

Results of the joint research conducted by Associate Professor Kiyoshi Hirahara and Professor Toshinori Nakayama of the Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, and Tomomi Ichikawa, PhD and Professor Kazuyuki Tobe of the First Department of Internal Medicine, University of Toyama.

• Previously, the contributing mechanism of fungi to lung fibrosis was poorly understood in detail. A novel cell population known as CD4 tissue-resident memory T cells has been identified in the lung with fibrosis resulting from fungal exposure.
• CD4 tissue-resident memory T cells were found to include highly pathogenic cells causing tissue fibrosis and cells inhibiting tissue fibrosis.
• Highly pathogenic CD4 tissue-resident memory T cells may be a target for effective therapy of refractory lung tissue fibrosis.

This project was supported by Advanced Research & Development Programs for Medical Innovation (AMED-CREST) and Practical Research Project for Allergic Diseases and Immunology of AMED.

These results were published in the online journal Nature Immunology dated October 8.

Ichikawa T., et al. CD103hi Treg cells constrain lung fibrosis induced by CD103lo tissue-resident pathogenic CD4 T cells Nature Immunology
DOI:10.1038/s41590-019-0494-y