CIRNO Center was established in the middle of 2017 with the Science Research Center program (SRC) supported by the Korea Research Foundation (KRF). Up to date, several immunological questions remain unclear with the limited knowledge on lymphoid immune system alone. Generally, non-lymphoid organ has been revealed to maintain immunosuppressive environments to protect organs from inflammatory responses when activated by lymphoid immune system. The Center was launched to study on the organ-specific immune systems which may exist and control the immune homeostasis of each non-lymphoid organ such as liver, lung, kidney, pancreas, colon, prostate, and other genetic organs, etc. Precisely, we would like to investigate the organ-specific immune cells, immune cell network, immune-modulating molecules and their activity and mechanism of action in each non-lymphoid organ. In addition, we are going to develop an in vivo nano-delivery technology to control the immunosuppressive environments by targeting organ-specific immune cells or organ-specific immune molecules, which may facilitate immune effector infiltration into non-lymphoid organ, leading to inhibition of tumor growth.
Through the research, the Center will provide a better understanding of the specific immune system of each non-lymphoid organ, and open a new paradigm in medical treatment of tumors residing in the non-lymphoid organ.