It all begins with an observation.
Macrophages are an essential part of tissue development and physiology. Although their original role was confined to host defense/innate immunity, macrophages are becoming more broadly appreciated, including their essential role in the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. They actively survey the tissue environment perceiving, integrating and responding to environmental challenges. Among myriad macrophages subsets, tissue-resident perivascular macrophages have specifically been associated with the regulation of tissue physiology. However, it remains unclear the molecular pathways deployed by these cells to support the maintenance of tissue homeostasis.
To understand how perivascular macrophages sense environmental cues and contribute toward tissue physiology, it is important to identify the cellular and molecular circuits that promote integration of immune responses to tissue specific needs.
How can we propose to cure human diseases if we do not know the basic healthy parameters that a tissue needs to work properly?
We believe that to provide better treatment to human diseases it is fundamental to reveal basic life processes that govern cells and organ functions.
Getting a better understanding about how immune cells contribute to tissue physiology will ultimately instruct us to develop novel approaches to treat human diseases.
Our Model
Our Lab present focus is on the understanding of immune mediated circuits that support the visceral white adipose tissue activity. The white adipose tissue is a fundamental endocrine organ for our day-to-day life. It participates in the control of several fundamental systemic homeostatic activities, such as glucose and lipid homeostasis, appetite regulation, hormone production among others.
Recently, we described a large population of perivascular macrophages present in white adipose tissue, which we named “vasculature-associated adipose tissue macrophages” (VAMs). VAMs comprise around 50% of the total immune cells within the epididymal white adipose tissue, making this an excellent organ to evaluate the contribution of these cells to tissue homeostasis. In addition, disturbances in the eWAT activity are at the root of several diseases, including metabolic syndrome. Considering the increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes/ metabolic syndrome across western populations and beyond (e.g., the CDC estimates more than 100 million U.S. adults is living with diabetes or prediabetes), the functional relevance of perivascular macrophages and the high abundance of VAMs within the white adipose tissue.
It is of utmost importance to uncover molecular circuits mediated by VAMs that sustain white adipose tissue activity and metabolic health, which may in turn further the establishment of new therapeutic approaches to restore tissue homeostasis during metabolic dysfunction.
