2006 Grants

National Council agreed to fund the following grant, as recommended by the research committee: -

Characterisation of induced regulatory T cells in psoriatic skin lesions and assessment of their function - Dr Tony Omerod, Consultant dermatologist and Reader in Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Aberdeen.
'Newly defined lymphocytes called T regulatory cells (Tr) offer a novel potential for therapy as a means to induce tolerance in autoimmune diseases including psoriasis. To be effective such therapy would need to enhance Tr cell function within the psoriasis lesion. In a pilot study we have shown Tr cells in psoriatic lesions but hypothesise that the balance is locally tilted in favour of effector responses, rather than regulation. Our pilot study developed techniques to identify and study a subset of regulatory cells in psoriatic lesions that produce IL-10, a cytokine known to be effective in treatment. This project will focus on isolating these cells from psoriatic lesions, characterising them, and determining their relationship to effector T cells and other regulatory subsets present locally. This could lead to a novel form of therapy based on augmenting regulatory T cell responses.’