Immunobiology of Chlamydia

描述（由申请人提供）：申请人申请职业发展奖励，以获得衣原体特异性微生物学和免疫学方面的培训，目标是在衣原体免疫生物学方面发展。他将在自己的实验室里工作，并在dr。Stanley Spinola（导师）和Byron Batteiger（联合导师）。由细菌发病机理和细胞免疫学专家组成的当地委员会将监测约翰逊博士的进展。此外，他将前往阿肯色大学接受Roger Rank博士（顾问）的MoPn动物模型培训。候选人在细胞免疫学和病毒免疫发病机制的动物模型方面有重要的先验训练。本申请中概述的指导发展应为候选人未来衣原体免疫生物学的研究提供坚实的基础。在获奖期间，候选人将应用他在之前的培训中开发的独特的T细胞培养系统来研究生殖道衣原体感染的粘膜免疫反应。迄今为止，该领域的大部分工作都是利用来自全身免疫室的T淋巴细胞。候选人提出的使用粘膜免疫学方法的研究应该补充这项工作。基于他之前的研究，Johnson博士假设上皮抗原呈递细胞（APC）的使用将促进粘膜T淋巴细胞的生长，这些淋巴细胞具有独特的特性，可能在宿主防御衣原体感染中发挥重要作用。本研究的目的是：1)从雌性小鼠上生殖道获得上皮细胞系，作为研究衣原体感染黏膜免疫应答的APC。2)以衣原体感染的上皮细胞系为APC研究衣原体免疫生物学，研究CD4和CD8 T细胞对生殖道感染的应答。3)探讨粘膜CD8和CD4 T淋巴细胞过继转移对MoPn生殖道感染自然过程的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The candidate is applying for a career development award in order to gain training in chlamydia-specific microbiology and immunology with the goal of pursuing a career in chlamydia immunobiology. He will work in his own laboratory under the supervision of Drs. Stanley Spinola (mentor) and Byron Batteiger (co-mentor). A local committee consisting of experts in bacterial pathogenesis and cellular immunology will monitor Dr. Johnson's progress. In addition, he will travel to the University of Arkansas for training in MoPn animal models with Dr. Roger Rank (consultant). The candidate has significant prior training in cellular immunology and animal models of viral immunopathogenesis. The mentored development outlined in this application should provide a solid foundation for the candidate's future studies of chlamydia immunobiology. During the award period the candidate will apply a unique T cell culture system that he developed during prior training to study the mucosal immune response to chlamydia infections of the reproductive tract. Much of the work done to date in the field has utilized T lymphocytes from the systemic immune compartment. The candidate's proposed research using mucosal immunology methodologies should compliment that work. Based on his prior research, Dr. Johnson hypothesizes that use of epithelial antigen presenting cells (APC) will facilitate outgrowth of mucosal T lymphocytes with unique properties and possibly important roles in host defense against chlamydia infections. The goals of this proposal are: 1) To derive epithelial cell lines from the upper reproductive tract of female mice to serve as APC for studying mucosal immune responses to chlamydia infections. 2) To investigate chlamydia immunobiology using chlamydia-infected epithelial cell lines as APC for ex vivo studies of CD4 and CD8 T cells responding to genital tract infections. 3) To determine the effect of adoptive transfer of mucosal CD8 and CD4 T lymphocytes on the natural course of MoPn genital tract infections.