Sabelo Hadebe - IUIS Beijing ICI 2019 Presentation

22 Nov 2019
22 Nov 2019

Dr Sabelo Hadebe is a Division of Immunology Faculty member who attended the 17th International Congress of Immunology (ICI) held in Beijing in October 2019. Dr Hadebe provided a summary of his presentation at the meeting on new function of immunoglobulin M isotype in allergic asthma.

Sabelo Hadebe - A new function of Immunoglobulin M Isotype in Allergic Asthma

At the 17th International Congress of Immunology, I spoke about what we think may be a new function of immunoglobulin M isotype in allergic asthma. I firstly spoke more in general about what we know about B cells in allergic asthma and the fact that they have always been considered not that important particularly for type 4 hypersensitivity. I then talked about this peculiar case, where lack of IgM isotype in animals seem to regulate airway hyperresponsiveness, one of the key features in allergic asthma associated with bronchoconstriction and reduced airflow which leads to breathlessness in asthmatics. We have found something that we would not have associated with B cell function before, which is very exciting for us. I am grateful for financial support which made this trip possible, AAI, CSA-African and BSI travel awards. We absolutely had a feast of science from leading scholars and Nobel laureates and also got to see wonderful Beijing and China’s ancient history.