The role and control of mast cell responses in intestinal helminth infection

Parasitic worms can infect people for many years, despite the efforts of the immune system to eject them. They achieve this through the release of molecules which suppress parts of the immune response designed to kill them.

In this project, we will investigate how a parasite can suppress mast cells - an important component of the anti-parasite immune response.

We hypothesise that parasitic worms may produce proteins which prevent mast cell responses - in this project we will identify and characterise these immunosuppressive proteins. We will also investigate how the immune system combats parasite infections through mast cell responses.

Many parasitic worms infect by burrowing through our skin, and travelling through the blood to the gut, where they live for the rest of their lives.

Recent evidence suggests that damage to the skin can be interpreted by the immune system as a parasitic infection, and leads to the accumulation of mast cells in the gut. We will investigate how this skin-to-gut communication is mediated, and how it can prevent parasite infection.

We will also investigate the signals that travel from the skin to the gut, and how these act on mast cells to prepare the gut to eject parasitic worms.