MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences

Endocrine Signalling in Inflammation

Gut hormone therapies based on GLP-1 have transformed how we treat metabolic diseases. However, we still do not fully understand how these hormones signal the immune system to control inflammation. Our group investigates their action across the gut, brain and immune system, translating them into better therapies for chronic diseases.

Meet the team

CK WongHead of the Endocrine Signalling in Inflammation Group (starting July 2026)
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Our approach

We use an integrated approach to dissect the gut-brain-immune axis. By combining transgenic models, surgical intervention and pharmacological modulation, we map gut hormone responses to inflammation in vivo.
We dissect hormonal control over tissue-level inflammation using high-resolution spatial imaging, cytometry-based techniques and functional assays.
We employ multi-omics such as transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics to identify candidate signalling hubs and characterise hormone-driven signatures in health and disease.
In parallel, we use human-derived organoid models and clinical samples to discover and validate anti-inflammatory actions downstream of gut hormones.

Endocrine Signalling in Inflammation research

OUR SCIENCE: THE BASICS

Chronic inflammation is a vicious cycle in many diseases: it damages vital organs and fuels more inflammation that spreads like a wildfire. While therapies based on the gut hormone GLP-1, which regulates blood sugar and appetite, have transformed how we treat metabolic disorders, their full potential to resolve inflammation remains an unanswered question.

Our group studies how gut hormones and related peptides broadly act as the body’s firefighters. By decoding how they change communication between organs, we can map exactly how they help resolve inflammation at its source. Our goal is to use these signals to protect the body, shifting from simply managing disease toward putting out the fire for good.

OUR SCIENCE: THE DETAIL

Our group studies how gut hormones regulate inflammation via the gut-brain-immune axis. We aim to decode the molecular crosstalk between these organs by pursuing the following three parallel directions.

  1. Direct Hormonal Immunomodulation: We identify the receptor-specific pathways through which individual gut hormones exert direct influence on immune cell function.
  2. Neural Coordination of Immunometabolic Homeostasis: We define how the central and peripheral nervous systems process gut hormone signals to balance systemic metabolic and inflammatory states.
  3. Hormonal Crosstalk in Control of Inflammation: We map the synergistic interactions between gut hormone ensembles to predict their collective impact on inflammatory outcomes.

CLINICAL IMPACT

The clinical success of GLP-1 medicines has shown that gut hormones do much more than just control glucose or weight. By mapping how these signals function along the gut-brain-immune axis, we can translate our findings into two major goals for human health.

  1. We aim to design multi-hormone therapies rationally that work together to more effectively target and resolve the inflammation that drives chronic diseases.
  2. We aim to better predict how these hormones affect the immune system to define the therapeutic window, prevent side effects and identify new opportunities to use these hormones as synergistic boosters for existing immunotherapies.

Our research is supported by

Selected publications

Wong, C.K., Drucker, D.J. (2025) Antiinflammatory actions of glucagon-like peptide-1–based therapies beyond metabolic benefits. Journal Of Clinical Investigation. doi:10.1172/JCI194751

Wong, C.K., Yusta, B., Tong, J.C.L., Broichhagen, J,. Hodson, D.J., Drucker, D.J. (2025). Reassessment of antibody-based detection of the murine T cell GLP-1 receptor. Cell Metabolism. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2025.06.012

Wong, C.K., McLean, B.A., Baggio, L.L., Koehler, J.A., Hammoud, R., Rittig, N., Yabut, J.M., Seeley, R.J., Brown, T.J., Drucker, D.J. (2024). Central glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor activation inhibits Toll-like receptor agonist-induced inflammation. Cell Metabolism. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2023.11.009

Wong, C.K., Yusta, B., Koehler, J.A., Baggio, L.L., McLean, B.A., Matthews, D., Seeley, R.J., Drucker, D.J. (2022). Divergent roles for the gut intraepithelial lymphocyte GLP-1R in control of metabolism, microbiota, and T cell-induced inflammation. Cell Metabolism. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2022.08.003

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