Phagocytosis of filamentous targets

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The body's strategy to protect against foreign threats and clean its own cellular debris is to isolate and destroy them. This is carry out by specialized cells from the immune system, phagocytes, through a process called phagocytosis. During phagocytosis, phagocytes engulf and eat their targets, which are then degraded inside the cell. To fulfill their function, phagocytes must process targets of different composition, shape and texture. Today, much of phagocytosis research has focused on the composition of the target. However, little is known about how target's physical properties affect the phagocytic process. Of particular interest are long and fibrous targets because studies have shown that both microbes and inert particles of that form can not be easily ingested by phagocytes. Therefore, these type of targets favor toxic effects, as is the case for asbestos and glass fibers, or the persistence of infections bacteria, like UPEC E.coli. The main objective of my research will be to investigate why filamentous targets, both bacterial and inert particles, become a hurdle for phagocytosis. We expect that this project will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms that control phagocytosis and the ways utilized by pathogens to escape this process. We also expect to reach a better understanding of the mechanism behind the toxicity of asbestos fibers. From a technological perspective, such findings could contribute knowledge to the design of more safe fibrous engineered materials, like nanotubes, which are of an enormous technological and economical potential.