Disputas – Master i biomedisin Aud Malin Karlsson Hovd

The doctoral thesis! Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her! Prøveforelesning over oppgitt emne holdes kl. 10.15, samme sted: «TLS in cancer biology: current status, and therapeutic implications». Prøveforelesningen vil også bli strømmet/the trial lecture will also be streamed.  Disputas starter kl. 1215 Auditoriet er åpent for publikum, men disputasen vil likevel bli strømmet her.  Opptak av disputasen vil være tilgjengelig i et døgn. The auditorium is open to the public, but the defense will also be streamed here. A recording of the defense will be available for 24 hours.

Populærvitenskapelig sammendrag av avhandlingen:

In autoimmune diseases like Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren’s disease (SjD), the immune system attacks itself, causing chronic inflammation. This leads to an influx of immune cells into the affected organs. Here, they can organize themselves into structures known as tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs).

This thesis investigated some of the mechanisms behind these autoimmune diseases, together with the potential crosstalk between the disease progression and TLS formation.  We discovered that TLSs share similar cell and gene profiles as lymph nodes. In addition, the initiation of TLS could be influenced by special connective tissue cells known as mesenchymal stromal cells which will interact with infiltrated immune cells. We noted an increase of regulatory cells in the inflamed tissue during the disease progression, which may show that the body is attempting to balance the immune response. Macrophages, a type of phagocyte, was found surrounding the TLSs and may act as a double-edged sword in controlling inflammation and may both stimulate and supress the disease progression and TLS. A better understanding of these mechanism could lead to improvement of diagnosis and treatment strategies.

Hovedveileder
Førsteamanuensis Hege Lynum Pedersen, Institutt for biologisk medisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet. 

Biveileder
Professor Kristin Andreassen Fenton, Institutt for biologisk medisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.
Forsker Stine Figenschau, Institutt for biologisk medisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.

Bedømmelseskomité
Professor Patrick Blanco, Université de Bordeaux – 1. opponent.
Pofessor Anna Dimberg, Uppsala University - 2. opponent.
Førsteamanuensis Synnøve Magnussen, Institutt for biologisk medisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet – leder av komité.

Disputasleder
Førsteamanuensis Omri Snir, Institutt for biologisk medisin, Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, UiT Norges arktiske universitet.