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Experimental Immunology Lab
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A lab that explores, through regulatory T cells, how the immune system avoids reacting against the self.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring how the immune system avoids reacting to the self
The Experimental Immunology Lab studies, with a focus on regulatory T cells, how the immune system avoids reacting to the body's own tissues.
When this mechanism breaks down, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis occur.
The lab discovered naturally occurring regulatory T cells, which suppress the activity of self-reactive lymphocytes, and has shown experimentally that abnormalities in these cells can cause autoimmune disease.
Using SKG mice, which spontaneously develop a disease very similar to rheumatoid arthritis, the lab aims to clarify the process by which genetic abnormalities lead to autoimmune disease.
Key terms
- Regulatory T cells
- A group of T cells that suppress the activation and proliferation of lymphocytes that react to the body's own tissues. Also called Treg cells.
- Immunological self-tolerance
- The state in which the immune system does not react to the body's own normal tissues. This breaks down in autoimmune disease.
- Foxp3
- The master regulatory gene at the center of how regulatory T cells are generated and function
- Epigenome
- The whole set of marks, such as DNA methylation, that determine how genes are used, separate from the DNA base sequence itself
NewsLab news
Project Professor Shimon Sakaguchi wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Project Professor Shimon Sakaguchi is elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Association of Immunologists
A joint study discovers a method to enhance the differentiation, stability, and function of iTregs (Nature)
A joint study discovers a protein that stabilizes regulatory T cells (Immunity)
Cellular responses of CD4+ T cells in autoimmune disease are revealed (Cell Gen.)
ResearchResearch themes
This lab studies how the state in which the immune system does not react to the body's own tissues (immunological self-tolerance) is created and maintained in the body. It aims to apply this understanding to developing ways of controlling autoimmune disease, tumor immunity, organ transplantation, and allergy.
*Illustrative imageNaturally occurring regulatory T cells and immunological tolerance
The lab discovered and studies naturally occurring regulatory T cells, which in normal individuals suppress the activation and proliferation of self-reactive lymphocytes. It has shown experimentally that abnormalities in these cells break immunological self-tolerance and cause autoimmune disease.
*Illustrative imageRheumatoid arthritis and SKG mice
SKG mice, established in the lab, spontaneously develop autoimmune arthritis very similar to human rheumatoid arthritis. The cause is a point mutation in ZAP70, a T cell signaling molecule, and the lab aims to clarify the process by which a genetic abnormality leads to a specific autoimmune disease.
*Illustrative imageHow regulatory T cells are generated
The lab believes that what determines the regulatory T cell lineage is not whether Foxp3 is expressed, but the reorganization of the epigenome. It is working to identify the molecular mechanism that creates the Treg-type epigenome and the factors that induce it.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Experimental Immunology Lab consist of faculty, visiting faculty, researchers (postdoctoral researchers), graduate students, technical assistants, and secretaries.
- Project ProfessorShimon Sakaguchi
- Project ProfessorNaganari Ohkura
- Associate ProfessorKenji Ichiyama
- Associate ProfessorAtsushi Tanaka
- Associate ProfessorNorihisa Mikami
- Associate ProfessorYusuke Takeshima
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “HIV H9 T-cell II” National Institutes of Health (NIH) / Public domain (cropped)
- Naturally occurring regulatory T cells and immunological tolerance: “T Regulatory Cells ( )” NIAID / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Rheumatoid arthritis and SKG mice: “Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis - Rheumatoid arthritis -- Smart-Servier” Laboratoires Servier / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- How regulatory T cells are generated: “FOXP3” AtikaAtikawa / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (ヒト単一細胞免疫学
（Human Single Cell Immunology） ): “Lymph Node (NIH BioArt 304)” Courtesy of NIAID Ryan Kissinger / Public domain (cropped) - Related lab (免疫化学
（Immunochemistry） ): “Westgate Microscopy t-lymphocytes” Cannons Law Firm, Glasgow, UK / CC BY 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (組織感染免疫学
（Tissue Immunology of Infection） ): “Infectiology - Herpes virus 1 -- Smart-Servier” Laboratoires Servier / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped) - Related lab (免疫寄生虫学
（Immunoparasitology） ): “Toxoplasma parasites (tachyzoites) in a fibroblast host cell” Morne Arin (Ksena Longrin, previously known as Kseniia Bondarenko) / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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