And now for something completely different….
I loved this latest issue of IMMpress brought to you by our talented Department of Immunology graduate students entitled “Built to Survive: Immunity Beyond Humans”. I think almost any immunology project can benefit from the evolutionary perspective. Asking – “why is this beneficial to the host” can be a catalyst to important immunological insights. And for this reason, it is paramount that we think about other organisms beyond the beloved specific-pathogen-free C57Bl/6 Mus musculus. For me, as someone in their mid-fifties, I am all about the incredible health span of the naked mole-rat. It can live to 30-40 years of age! (although the trade-off appears to be spending its life underground in pathogen-poor environments, a state of existence that has its appeal). Kidding aside, there is much richness in comparative immunology that can be gleaned to better understand human immunology.
I was recently asked by Juan Carlos Zúñiga-Pflücker, the course coordinator of IMM428/1428, to take over the comparative immunology lecture formerly taught by Dr. Michael Ratcliffe. From this, and echoed in one of this issue’s article, I learned about the fundamental role chickens played in our understanding of the immune system. It was from our humble Swiss Chalet friends that Dr. Max Cooper discovered 2 arms to the adaptive immune system, one originating from the thymus (T cells) and one from the bursa, which is located close to the chicken cloaca. If you don’t know what the cloaca is, …. Well, just look it up. In IMM428 I teach about B cell diversification in the bursa which starts before hatch (a bit ass-backwards if you ask me), and this is later driven by microbiota after hatch. Chicken immunologists were way ahead of the mouse people when it came to understanding the influence of the microbiota on adaptive immunity.
We also learn in this issue the value of human organoids for clinical modeling. A former student from our Department, Dr. Lisa Wagar, is pioneering work in this area out of her lab at UC Irvine. She is a guest editor for a Journal of Immunology review series coming out on human organoids – so look out for that one! While organoids have limitations, they can be a highly useful parallel track for drug discovery. Indeed, there is no singular model system that will get us from discovery to drug. Typically, a combination of in silico, in vitro (sometimes organoids) and in vivo (including mice, but also typically requiring toxicology assessment in non-human primates) are required for a complete preclinical package before going to humans.
In the words of Dr. Ehrhardt whose love of lampreys is derived from his time with the venerable Dr. Max Cooper and who is interviewed in this issue, studying other organisms one can “encounter very unusual and exciting science”. Götz praises these creatures as not only an immunological treasure trove, but also a gastronomic delicacy (with a nice chianti on the side).
I hope you enjoy this issue – bon appétit!
Jennifer Gommerman
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