Modeling the immune responses: For autoimmune diseases

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K20655
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 90110:Biomedical engineering-related
• Research Institution: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (2020-2022); Hokkaido University (2019)
• Principal Investigator: Tamai Miho 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 免疫シグナルユニット, スタッフサイエンティスト (20619704)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 組織培養モデル / 流体デバイス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Developing methods to understand and control the mechanisms of the immune system is a crucial issue in medicine and medical care, and the construction of culture models is a helpful tool. Since multiple factors are involved in a living body's immune system, it is hard to construct a culture model. In this study, we tried to build a culture model system that reproduces the immune response of the living body. First, we focused on the intestinal tract, the largest immune organ. We succeeded in co-culture with E. coli DH5α, a model of intestinal bacteria, using a microfluidic device with upper and lower channels centered on a porous membrane. By introducing macrophages, which play an essential role in the physiological functions of the intestine, interaction with the bacteria was confirmed, and a model similar to the intestinal environment of living organisms could be constructed.

Free Research Field

細胞組織工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

免疫応答は個体全体の現象であるために、作用機序の解明や疾患予防・治療方開発のためのツールを得る事において、動物実験による解析が一般的であったが、培養レベルで免疫応答モデルの構築できれば、細胞レベルでの評価が可能となり、従来の動物個体を用いた実験に代わる、安定的かつコスト的にも比較的安価な新しい評価モデルとしての応用が期待される。本研究は、医療産業へのニーズは勿論、貢献度や期待度が非常に高く、このようなモデルは十分に社会に貢献しうると考えられる。