Jannette Dufour’s research explores the role of Sertoli cells, found in testes, in regulating the immune response that protects developing sperm. The goal is to better understand the mechanism to improve their protection capabilities and extend this ability to other tissues.
She draws upon her experience studying Sertoli cells’ role in sperm development as a graduate student at Washington State University as well as later work on islet transplantation as a postdoctoral fellow with the Islet Transplantation Group in the Surgical Medical Research Institute, Department of Surgery at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Now Distinguished University Professor and Chair at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Dr. Dufour brings this expertise to her research aimed at using Sertoli cells for cell-based gene therapy and leveraging their protective mechanism to improve the survival of islets, pancreatic cells that produce insulin and other hormones, when transplanted as a treatment for Type I diabetes.
“Our goal is to better understand how Sertoli cells regulate the immune response to enhance and target it,” she said. “We have successfully found prolonged survival of islets when co-transplanted with these cells. Now we are learning how to improve the outcomes and expand this approach to other types of transplants, including xenotransplants between species, which would expand the availability of organs for life-saving treatments.”
In other work, Dr. Dufour is exploring the flip side of the Sertoli cells’ protective mechanism. Decreasing the body’s immune response to prevent an autoimmune attack on sperm cells could potentially allow pathogens to survive.
“How the immune system functions in male reproductive organs is different from other areas of the body,” she said. “Studies have shown that Ebola- and Zika-infected male patients, for example, can sexually transmit the disease months after the patient has recovered and cleared the virus from the bloodstream because the virus can persist in the male reproductive tract. However, it doesn’t appear that the pathogens survive in this reservoir indefinitely, most seem to disappear by six to 12 months.”
A recent collaborative project is examining this process in virus-infected testes to uncover new pathways of immune regulation to allow for both protection of sperm and clearance of pathogens.
Dr. Dufour is Co-Director for Center of Excellence in Obesity and Cardiometabolic Research and Chair in the Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at TTUHSC.
“We draw upon an amazing cross-section of expertise within the Texas Tech University System to fuel collaboration across disciplines and allow us to tackle fascinating questions,” she said. “I am so excited to get to do work that I love and to take part in the vibrant research community here in Texas.”