Many chronic disorders result from disrupting immune responses. An international study (6 countries) conducted by Oliver Soehnlein of LMU Munich, including the AFM team at CEA/IRIG/IBS in Grenoble, has shown that neutrophils exacerbate atherosclerosis by causing the death of smooth muscle cells under the effect of the H4 histone and that a suitable peptide is able to inhibit the process.
The initial membrane bilayers production and AFM imaging was performed by Jean-Marie Teulon and pursued by Nihel Berrebeh during her master2 internship. Nihel also imaged by AFM the inhibition of histone H4 by peptides on these bilayers.
Silvestre-Roig C, et al. (2019) Externalized histone H4 orchestrates chronic inflammation by inducing lytic cell death. Nature 569 : 236-240.