ImmuneHealthXL
To improve health, ImmuneHealthXL generates profound, overarching knowledge of the immune system and immune-mediated diseases.
The immune system plays an important role in health and disease. In some individuals, the immune system is too weak, resulting in the outgrowth of tumour cells or to susceptibility to existing and emerging infections. In other individuals, the immune system acts in an unwanted manner: it responds to healthy cells. This can cause, for example, diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis. Worldwide, millions of lives can be saved by optimising or restoring the immune system. Moreover, patients with chronic inflammatory diseases (5-7% of Western society) or allergy (10-30% of the world's population) would benefit from a curative immune-modulating treatment method rather than lifelong treatments.
In ImmuneHealthXL, a harmonised immunological toolbox will be developed. This consists of immunological assays/protocols that all immunological researchers can use. When it is applied to study different diseases it will provide disease-overarching insight in common and unique disease mechanisms and immune modulating therapies. By scrutinising very specific cells of the immune system, we will learn how immune modulation works and how it can be used to combat disease, while leaving our healthy organs intact. In the consortium, we have unique longitudinal patient samples from (recently) conducted immunotherapy studies in various diseases and are already developing new studies.
Partners
The mission of ImmuneHealthXL is to improve health of the Dutch people by protecting, maintaining, restoring and empowering a healthy immune system from childhood to old age. This will be achieved through novel insights in (common) disease mechanisms, more specific and patient-centric diagnostics, implementation of novel immune therapeutics and optimised lifestyle.
