With an estimated half billion obese people worldwide and another billion overweight, metabolic diseases represent a major global health challenge. Activated immune cells are well recognized as important mediators of obesity-induced metabolic dysfunction. Much less appreciated is that the underlying physiology of their effect is based on a reciprocal communication between the immune and endocrine systems that adjusts metabolic set points in response to events such as infection and starvation. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms that mediate immune-endocrine interactions, especially following infection, and how it derails in obesity.
In this project, we will combine metabolic disease models with the power of advanced immunological in vivo systems to elucidate immune-endocrine communication. We will use these systems to study both human and murine immune cells in the context of obesity and metabolic disease. This ambitious and interdisciplinary research proposal combines basic and translational science at the crossroad of immune and endocrine function. Though fundamental by nature, our study is highly relevant for one of the most pressing health issues of modern time.
The purpose of this project is to acquire high-impact data to facilitate future European grant applications.
Project name: Unravelling reciprocal regulation of the immune and endocrine systems
Project Acronym: ImmunoCrine
Project duration: 11.01.2020 - 31.12.2021
Project budget: HRK 400.000
Funding body: Ministry of Science and education