Yen-Hua Chen, Ph.D.

Chronic inflammatory diseases of the lung including asthma are a major public health and economic concern worldwide. In the US alone, approximately 39 million Americans are diagnosed with asthma, which is estimated to cost over USD 50 billion annually. Greater understanding of the mechanisms that regulate lung inflammation is needed in order to direct the development of novel, more selective therapeutic strategies. Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of a group of immune cells, called Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), in driving allergic lung inflammation; however, the mechanisms controlling the pro-inflammatory function of ILC2s are not well understood. The central focus of this proposal is to understand how cell-intrinsic metabolic factors, specifically Arginase metabolism, regulate ILC2 function in promoting lung disease pathogenesis.