Renal mesangial cell-macrophage interact

自身免疫性疾病是由人体自身免疫系统引起的疾病。其中一种疾病是系统性红斑狼疮（SLE），与DNA抗体相关，另一种疾病是系统性血管炎，与白细胞抗体相关，称为抗中性粒细胞细胞质抗体（ANCA）。这两种疾病都会导致严重的健康问题，如肾衰竭和肺病。然而，为什么某些人会出现肾脏问题，而另一些人却不会，这一点仍然未知。我们已经表明，发展肾脏疾病的趋势与循环白细胞和肾脏内部细胞中某些蛋白质（受体）的表达有关。此外，这些细胞以复杂的方式相互作用，影响其促进损伤或诱导组织修复的能力。这些蛋白质在人类疾病中的作用是否和它们在动物模型中的作用一样重要，从来没有得到过真正的测试。我希望测试这些特殊受体蛋白在SLE和系统性血管炎患者的肾脏活检以及这些患者的活细胞中的作用。了解决定细胞侵入肾脏是造成损伤还是修复的关键机制，应该允许这些蛋白质被开发为新的治疗靶点。

Auto-immune diseases are those caused by the body‘s own immune system. One such disease is systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), associated with antibodies to DNA, and another is systemic vasculitis associated with antibodies to white blood cells called anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibody (ANCA). Both diseases cause significant health problems such as kidney failure and lung disease. However, why certain individuals develop kidney problems while others avoid it remains unknown. We have shown that the tendency to develop kidney disease is related to the expression of certain proteins (receptors) on circulating white blood cells and cells found within the kidney itself. Additionally, these cells interact with each other in a complex manner, influencing their ability to promote damage or induce tissue repair. Whether these proteins play as important a role in human disease as they do in animal models has never really been tested. I wish to test the role of these particular receptor proteins in kidney biopsies taken from patients with SLE and systemic vasculitis as well as in living cells from these patients. Understanding the key mechanisms that determine whether cells invading the kidney cause damage or repair, should allow such proteins to be developed as new therapeutic targets.