Memorandum by the Wellcome Trust
1. The Wellcome Trust is pleased to make
a response to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
call for evidence on allergy and allergic diseases.
2. The Wellcome Trust is an independent
research-funding charity, established under the will of Sir Henry
Wellcome in 1936. It is funded from a private endowment, which
is managed with long-term sustainability and growth in mind. The
Trust is the second largest biomedical research funding foundation
in the world with a mission to "foster and promote research
with the aim of improving human and animal health".
3. The Trust has funded over £20 million
of research into allergies and allergic diseases since 2000, through
a number of its funding streams.
4. A wide range of academics and research
centres have been supported by the Trust in this field. As requested
by the Clerk of the Committee, we would like to draw the Committee's
attention to some individuals who we feel would offer valuable
insight into allergies and allergic diseases. The Trust has also
supported the majority of the researchers that have been contacted
by the Committee namely:
— Professor Stephen Holgate;
— Professor Tim Williams;
— Professor John Britton;
— Professor Anthony Frew;
— Professor Adnan Custovic; and
— Professor Douglas Robinson.
5. Outlined below are details of the researchers
and their current projects supported by the Wellcome Trust. The
Trust would be happy to supply further details about these projects
if the Committee feels it would be useful.
6. The MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms
of Asthma at King's College London and Imperial College London
Dr Clare Lloyd, Imperial College London University
Current research
Dr Lloyd and her colleagues have developed a
murine model of allergen induced airway inflammation and remodelling,
and used this model to identify key interactions leading to the
development of pathology. The model recapitulates many of the
features characteristic of the human disease, including eosinophilic
inflammation, airway hyperresponsiveness, mucus production, extracellular
matrix deposition, airway secretion. Importantly, the changes
to smooth muscle cell proliferation, and TGF to airway structure
were sustained in the absence of further allergen challenge.
Current studies of the team aim to delineate
molecular and cellular pathways involved in the resolution of
allergen induced airway inflammation and remodelling. They plan
to manipulate pathways thought to play a regulatory role in the
immune system in order to promote resolution of established airway
remodelling. The effects of these manipulations on development
of AHR, inflammation, and parameters of airway remodelling such
as collagen deposition and mucus production will then be assessed.
In addition they are investigating the contribution
of resident lung cells to airway remodelling. They will investigate
the ontogeny of fibroblasts during the development of airway remodelling
in vivo.
Dr Lloyd is a current Wellcome Trust Senior
Basic fellow (from 1999).
7. Professor Peter Friedmann, Professor of
Dermatology, University of Southampton
Current research
Dr Friedmann's current research includes the:
investigation of xenobiotic disposition in the development of
allergic contact hypersensitivity; mechanisms of adverse reactions
to therapeutic drugs and contact sensitisers; the generation of
inflammatory mediators in skin—a microdialysis study; and
the functional role of vasoactive mediators in allergic contact
hypersensitivity responses in human skin in vivo.
Prof Friedmann was awarded in 2004, a Wellcome Trust
Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF), for a new superdivision
of Infection, Allergy, Inflammation and Repair at Southampton
General Hospital.
8. Professor Hugh Miller, University of Edinburgh
Current research
The Miller Group's primary research interest
is in mast cells, their recruitment to the epithelium and how
mucosal mast cell specific proteases, which are produced in abundance
by rodents, function within the affected mucosa. A key role for
the proteases may be in regulating epithelial tight junctions,
thus controlling epithelial permeability.
Further to this, they are employing current
methods for global analysis of gene transcription (micro-arrays)
and protein expression (proteomics) to discover novel molecules
and patterns of expression in allergic reactions and parasite
rejection. A group of candidate molecules, including intelectin,
resistin-like molecule beta and acidic mammalian chitinase are
being studied in more detail. By understanding how natural immunity
to parasites works, their hope is to be in a better position to
augment these processes and design effective vaccines.
Professor Miller has received Wellcome Programme
Grants to support this work.
September 2006
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