1.Research summary

The immune system plays a crucial role in your survival by protecting body from invading pathogens or foreign substances. Our present studies aim at clarifying how the adaptive immune compartment, which is responsible for the immunological memory and also associated with many diseases, works efficiently in secondary lymphoid organs/tissues (SLOs), especially focusing on the mechanism of interplay between immune cells and stromal cells within the three-dimensional tissue microenvironment.

2.Research subjects

• 2-1. Structure and function of secondary lymphoid organs
• 2-2. Characteristics and immunological roles of stromal cells
• 2-3. Molecular interplay between immune cells and stromal cells
• 2-4. Immune cell dynamics in tissue microenvironment

3.Achievement and perspective

[Description] Our previous studies indicate that some tissue structures of SLOs are tightly associated with specialized subsets of stromal cells. These findings lead an important view that distinct stromal cell subsets support different tissue compartments and regulate local activities of immune cells. However, fundamental roles of lymphoid stromal cells are still largely unclear. In the future, not only SLOs but also whole immune system should be understood from the viewpoint of stromal cells and in the context of cell and molecular dynamics within three-dimensional tissue microenvironment.

[Photographs]

Please see the Immunology and Medical Zoology website for a detailed description of our research.