Cell News 01/2018
15
MEETING REPORT
Meeting report of the DGZ study group ‘Signal Transduction’
and its participation in the 21st Joint Meeting “Signal
Transduction - Receptors, Mediators and Genes”
Klaudia Giehl, Bastian Schirmer, Detlef Neumann, Ralf Hass, Katharina Hieke-Kubatzky
Each year in November, the Signal Transduction Society (STS) in-
vites researchers to Weimar to its Joint Meeting “Signal Transduc-
tion - Receptors, Mediators and Genes” discussing new aspects in
signal transduction. Last year the meeting took place from
November 8-10, 2017 in Weimar again at the Leonardo Hotel.
The meeting was organized by the STS C<ouncil & Advisory Board
together with the chairpersons of the study groups of various
scientific societies and collaborative research centers. In 2017
signaling study groups of the German Societies for Cell Biol-
ogy (DGZ), for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM), for
Immunology (DGfI), and for Pharmacology (DGP) joined the STS
as long-time cooperating societies. Additionally, the study group
“Infection Immunology” of the DGfI and the German Society for
Hygiene and Medical Microbiology (DGHM), respectively, the SFB
854 “Molecular Organisation of Cellular Communication in the
Immune System” (B. Schraven, Magdeburg), the DGfI study group
“Biology of B lymphocytes” (J. Wienands, Göttingen), as well as
the GRK 2155 “ProMoAge” (A. Simm, Halle) and the TRR 130 “B
cells: Immunity and Autoimmunity” (L. Nitschke, Erlangen) sup-
ported the joint and interdisciplinary character of the STS Meeting
financially and scientifically.
Each year an up-to-date topic is chosen as a special focus and
for the meeting in 2017 “Metabolism in Health and Disease” had
been elected. Invited keynote speakers introduced the effects of
metabolism on tumour immunology, immune cell signaling and
posttranslational modifications in three specific workshops to the
audience. Together with the keynote lectures and the comple-
menting short talks, multiple aspects of this highly exciting and
fast developing research field were discussed.
The STS Meeting was opened by Liam O’Mahony (Zurich) as key-
note speaker in the workshop “Receptor Signaling”. Prof. O’Maho-
ny concentrated his talk on bacteria and how they influence host
immunological processes through the production of histamine.
Thus, the gut microbiota or rather the balance between histamine
producing and degrading bacteria might be of great importance
in understanding allergic reactions and pose a new therapeutic
challenge. Overrepresentation of histamine secreting bacteria
could be detected in obese patients as compared to patients of
normal weight, implying that effective therapies may also have to
take into account the gut microbiota.
Dirk Brenner (Luxembourg) started one of the three focus topic
sessions, in particular “Metabolism and Tumour Immunology”, by
presenting reactive oxygen species (ROS) as an interesting and
pleiotropic molecule. In fact, ROS can act as signaling molecules
in fighting viral infections and in autoimmunity. ROS production is
elevated in activated T cells and upregulation of the Glutathione
(GSH)-producing glutamate-cysteine ligase serves as a response
mechanism that allows maximal activation without cell dam-
age. Prof. Brenner showed that inhibition of GSH production in a
mouse model reduced the ability of the activated T cells to switch
their metabolism to glycolysis which led to an impaired antiviral
response, but also protected from autoimmune disease.
T cells were also addressed by Luciana Berod (Hannover). She
exemplified how metabolic processes, such as fatty acid oxidation,
modulate T cell differentiation and the balance between effector
cells and regulatory cells. Targeting the de novo fatty acid synthe-
sis by acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1) might be a new strategy
for metabolic immune modulation.
The workshop “Infection and Inflammation” was started by
Christina Stallings (St. Louis) illustrating the immune responses to
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) especially by neutrophils. These
cells represent important factors in establishing a replication niche
for Mtb, which inhibit macro-autophagy processes in neutrophils
to generate their own replication niche.
The first talk on Thursday was given by Laura Machesky (Glasgow),
Travel grant awardees at the STS Meeting 2017
