Population Dynamics Of Tissue-specific Effector And Regulatory CD4+ T Cells
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$394,250.00
Summary
Survival of white blood cells in the body is an active process and is important for the maintainence of a T cell population which can recognise a wide variety of foreign antigens. At present the fate of T lymphocytes which recognise self antigens is unclear. Knowledge of the survival kinetics of self-reactive T lymphocytes and the mechanism by which they are regulated in the normal individual is crucial to be able to control the development of various diseases, including autoimmune diseases. Fro ....Survival of white blood cells in the body is an active process and is important for the maintainence of a T cell population which can recognise a wide variety of foreign antigens. At present the fate of T lymphocytes which recognise self antigens is unclear. Knowledge of the survival kinetics of self-reactive T lymphocytes and the mechanism by which they are regulated in the normal individual is crucial to be able to control the development of various diseases, including autoimmune diseases. From our previous studies of autoimmune gastritis we have generated cell lines of lymphocytes that recognise stomach-specific antigens and with these unique reagents we will perform experiments to determine the fate of these self-reactive T cells in a normal individual. Also we will determine the impact of different amounts of the tissue antigens on the survival and activation of self-reactive T cells, and finally how a special class of lymphocytes, know as regulatory lymphocytes, act in vivo to control the activity of self-reactive T cells. We will use not only classical immunological approaches to address these issues but also state of the art imaging, to visualise the nature of the cell interactions in living tissues. The information arising from this work will underpin strategies to selectively turn off self-reactive lymphocytes that cause disease, will form the basis of clinical development of cell based therapies to treat autoimmune diseases, and the imaging technologies developed in this grant will have wide applicability to the study of a range of immune responses.Read moreRead less
Understanding The Role Of Chemokine Receptor Modulation In T Cell Trafficking
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$391,650.00
Summary
This research will begin to determine the significance of changes in the amount of recently-discovered proteins on the surface of cells called T lymphocytes. These cells control immune responses and move throughout the body to do this. Sometimes, they are activated inappropriately and cause diseases like asthma, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. It is therfore important to understand how the movement of these cells through the body is controlled. A better understanding of this process shuld allo ....This research will begin to determine the significance of changes in the amount of recently-discovered proteins on the surface of cells called T lymphocytes. These cells control immune responses and move throughout the body to do this. Sometimes, they are activated inappropriately and cause diseases like asthma, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. It is therfore important to understand how the movement of these cells through the body is controlled. A better understanding of this process shuld allow us to design better ways to control it, thereby controlling the negative aspects of T cell activation.Read moreRead less
Epigenetic Regulation Of CD8+ T Cell Function And Memory.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$578,171.00
Summary
Upon virus infection, a subset of white blood cells, called killer T cells, are recruited to fight the infection. This proposal aims to examine molecular changes that occur within killer T cells and impart their specific function. We also aim to understand how killer T cells are _programmed� as they establish immunological memory. This proposal will provide insights important for the design and improvement of vaccine strategies to fight pathogens such as influenza, HIV and even tumors.