Hyung-Geun Moon, PhD

Asthma is a chronic airway disease with intermittent exacerbations that can lead to frequent emergency room visits and hospitalizations. We recently discovered that airway epithelial cell derived CSF1 and CSF1R carrying conventional dendritic cell type 2 (cDC2) play a critical role in asthma development. The study revealed diminished cDC2 population in the normal condition. We will determine the role of CSF1R carrying cDC2 in an asthma model of mouse. We will also investigate how CSF1-CSF1R interaction promotes the cDC2 in response to allergen adopting single cell-RNA sequencing. Our study will contribute to greater understanding of how asthma develops and provide insights to identify novel therapeutic targets for treatment.

Update:

We have fully characterized a novel mouse strain that selectively reduced cDC2 in the alveoli (the lung’s air sacs), resulting in decreased allergen uptake and migration to regional lymph nodes. Consequently, these mice represent diminished allergic lung inflammation. We have validated that CSF1R expressing cDC2 in the alveoli plays a crucial role in development of allergic asthma, which suggests a novel therapeutic target of asthma prevention and therapy.