Lecture – Jakub Abramson: Breath of fresh AIRE – from autoimmunity to anti-fungal immunity

Patients with a loss of function in the Autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene suffer from a rare and devastating disorder, Autoimmune Polyendocrine Syndrome type 1 (APS-1), characterized by a whole spectrum of autoimmune diseases and severe mucocutaneous candidiasis. While the key mechanisms underlying the development of autoimmunity in APS-1 patients are well-established, the underlying cause for increased susceptibility to Candida albicans infection remains less understood. In this presentation I ll discuss our most recent reseach, which indentifies a novel and additional role for AIRE in the immune response against fungal infections. Specifically, our data demonstrate that extrathymic expression of AIRE is essential for the generation of candida-specific Th17 cells, which subsequently prevent overgrowth of C. albicans in mucosal tissues. Collectively, our findings not only highlight a novel and additional functional role for AIRE, but more importantly identify previously uncharacterized regulatory mechanism underlying an effective defense response against fungal infections.