[Transversal Health Research Networks, a strategy for translational medicine]. / Redes Transversales de Investigación en Salud: estrategia para la medicina traslacional.

Translational research, in its regulatory function as a current policy for the research activities being performed at the Mexican Institute for Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social: IMSS), demands a collaborative work among people involved in the generation of knowledge and in those who consume such knowledge. Being an organization who has among its major objectives for almost 80 years the health care of Mexican population, the Institute has an important human capital represented by its physician leaders, researchers and directors, who, by working closely together, will be able to find a better respond to the health care needs of the Mexican population. Through collaborative groups, transversal research networks oriented to the priority health problems of Mexican people are being organized as a strategy whose purpose is making research more efficient and ensuring rapidly applicable results, in order to improve the quality of health care services offered by the Institute, whose commitment is primarily to Mexican society, although the results of this strategy could also be shown to the world, considering that the Institute is one of the largest public health service organizations, at least in Latin America, and its results could be a benchmark for the region. Collaborative work in research networks began more than 15 years ago at IMSS, but today it is being consolidated and its objectives are being reoriented, aligning them with both national policies and those of the Institute itself.

La investigación traslacional, como la política vigente de las actividades de investigación que se realizan en el Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), requiere del trabajo colaborativo de los actores involucrados en la generación del conocimiento y de los que consumen el conocimiento. Al ser una organización que tiene como uno de sus principales objetivos la atención a la salud de la población mexicana desde hace casi 80 años, el Instituto cuenta en sus filas con un importante capital humano, representado por sus líderes médicos, investigadores y directivos, que, al trabajar en conjunto, podrán encontrar mejores respuestas a las necesidades de salud de la población mexicana. La organización por medio de grupos colaborativos en redes transversales de investigación orientadas a los problemas prioritarios de salud de los mexicanos es una estrategia que busca que la investigación sea más eficiente y que sus resultados sean prontamente aplicables, a fin de mejorar la calidad de la atención de los servicios de salud que oferta el Instituto, compromiso que se tiene primero con la sociedad mexicana, pero además se puede mostrar al mundo, ya que el Instituto es una de las más grandes organizaciones de servicios de salud pública, al menos en Latinoamérica, por lo que sus resultados pueden ser un referente para la región. El trabajo colaborativo en redes de investigación inició hace más de 15 años en el IMSS, pero hasta el día de hoy se fortalece y se reorientan sus objetivos, los cuales se alinean a las políticas nacionales y a las propias del Instituto.

Pathogenic CCR6+ dendritic cells in the skin lesions of discoid lupus patients: a role for damage-associated molecular patterns.

BACKGROUND: Discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) is a cutaneous autoimmune inflammatory disease in which the role of conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) in skin damage has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the involvement of cDCs in DLE pathogenesis. MATERIAL & METHODS: Skin biopsies from 42 patients with DLE were embedded in paraffin or placed in culture. The dermis was separated and cell suspensions were characterized by flow cytometry. RESULTS: We found an increase in cDCs with inflammatory characteristics in the skin of DLE patients, compared with control skins. Interestingly, cDCs from the DLE patients expressed low levels of the inhibitory molecule PD-L1 and showed a high expression of CCR6, which correlated with disease activity. Increased cellular death was observed in the skin of DLE patients compared with control skin and remarkably we found that damage-associated molecular patterns could be responsible for CCR6 expression on cDCs in the skin. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate the presence of pathogenic CCR6+ cDCs in the skin lesions of DLE patients, which could result from in situ phenotypic changes.