Researchers
Dr John Faul
Dr. John L. Faul, with colleagues Dr. Liam J. Cormican, Professor Len Poulter, and Professor Conor M. Burke at the Asthma Research Centre, Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown in Dublin are supported by the Asthma Society of Ireland and have recently made several breakthroughs in our scientific understanding of human bronchial asthma. Together with collaborators in Harvard University, University of Southern California, Imperial College London, and the Telethon Institute in Perth, Western Australia, they have conducted state-of-the-art research into the biology of the human airway. Their studies of the immunopathology of the human airway, combined with studies conducted at the in-house world-class lung function laboratory in Connolly Hospital, directed by Ms. Aisling MacGowan, have increased our understanding of airway function and structure in asthma. In particular the group has published papers, which describe an important new link between innate and adaptive immunity (invariant natural killer cells). These CD1d restricted iNKT cells are recruited to the lungs of some patients with asthma and appear to be capable of activation through stimulation by glycolipid (as found in bacteria or other infections). Upon activation the iNKT cells have been shown to produce many of the biologic features that characterize asthma.
In parallel, the Asthma Research Centre at Connolly has conducted a “ground-breaking” study that describes genetic profiles of bacterial species to inhabit the asthmatic airway has characterized, for the first time, the micro-environment of the asthmatic airway, revealing clues about how activation of the innate and adaptive immune systems by a host of bacterial species might dictate the development of asthma symptoms.
1. Hilty M, Burke C, Pedro H, et al. Disordered microbial communities in asthmatic airways. PLoS One 2010; 5:e8578
2. Faul JL, Wilson SR, Chu J, Canfield J, Kuschner WG. The effect of an inhaled corticosteroid on glucose control in type II diabetes. Clin. Med Research 2009. 824, 321-5.
3. Matangkasombut P, Marigowda G, Ervine A, Idris L, Pichavant M, Kim HY, Yasumi T, Wilson SB, DeKruyff RH, Faul JL, Israel E, Akbari O, Umetsu DT. Natural killer T cells in the lungs of patients with asthma. J. Aller. Clin. Immunol 2009;123(5):1181-5.
4. Akbari O, Faul JL, Umetsu DT. Invariant Natural Killer Cells in Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases. New England Journal of Medicine. 2007; 357 (2):193-4.
5. Akbari O, Faul JL, Umetsu DT. Invariant Natural Killer Cells in Bronchial Asthma. New England Journal of Medicine. 2006; 354 (24):2615-6.
6. Akbari O, Faul JL, Hoyte EG, Wahlstrom J, Kronenburg M, De Kruyff RH, Umetsu DT. Pulmonary CD4+, Invariant T Cell Receptor+ NKT Cells in Bronchial Asthma. New England Journal of Medicine. 2006; 354 (11):1117-29.
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