Martin PelletierPh.D.

Dr. Martin Pelletier is a researcher in the Division of Infectious and Immune Diseases at the CHU de Québec-Laval University Research Center, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology-Infectious Diseases and Immunology at Laval University. Author of over 35 publications, he has developed a unique expertise in inflammation, innate immunity, and energy metabolism. His research program focuses on the identification of intrinsic and extrinsic factors involved in triggering, maintaining, and resolving inflammation. Funded by the CIHR, NSERC, Fondation du Grand défi Pierre Lavoie, Crohn & Colitis Canada and Rare Disease Foundation, his work aims at characterizing environmental and host factors that modulate energy metabolism and the functional responses of inflammatory cells in chronic diseases to develop new therapeutic strategies and improve patient care.

Portray the bioenergetic events involved in inflammatory cells’ aberrant activation in chronic diseases such as inflammatory arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease

Pro-inflammatory mediators such as cytokines, actively participate in the progression and severity of inflammatory diseases. These mediators modulate the functional responses of inflammatory cells such as neutrophils and monocytes. Very little is known, however, about the metabolic changes that occur systemically in the patients. The characterization of the molecular mechanisms underlying altered energy metabolism in inflammatory chronic diseases such as gout, rheumatoid arthritis and colitis could provide the foundation for new personalized therapeutic treatments of chronic inflammatory diseases that specifically modulate bioenergetics of pathogenic immune cells.

Characterize the effects of widely used endocrine-disrupting chemicals on the bioenergetics of inflammatory cells

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are natural or synthetic compounds that can alter endocrine functions, often through mimicking or blocking endogenous hormones, and are linked to cancer, obesity and autoimmune diseases. These chemicals include pesticides, herbicides, plasticizers (bisphenol A and phthalates), pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. The widespread use of endocrine-disrupting chemicals leads to their distribution in the environment, as well as human exposure, as evidenced by their presence in human tissues and biological fluids, such as blood and urine. Understanding the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on the bioenergetics of the most abundant inflammatory cells in the blood, namely neutrophils and monocytes, could explain their immunomodulatory activities, and how these chemicals can contribute to inflammation or increased susceptibility to infections.

Development of a clinical assay to classify and guide the personalized treatment of rare auto-inflammatory patients

Recurrent fevers, systemic/organ-specific inflammation and hyperreactive innate immune cells linked to abnormal cytokine secretion are characteristics of auto-inflammatory syndromes. While being inherited conditions, mutations in patients with high suspicion for auto-inflammatory syndromes are detected in less than 20% of cases, and patients bear confounding phenotypes with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Although anti-cytokine therapeutics are available, auto-inflammatory syndrome treatments are often inefficient because information on the specific cytokines abnormally secreted in each patient is overlooked, leading not only to inappropriate treatment, but also to severe complications, with important repercussions on the patient’s health, his family, and bring about substantial socio-economic costs. The quantification of the cytokines abnormally secreted should not only help the diagnosis, but also provide personalized treatment options to auto-inflammatory syndrome patients.