The Function of the immunological synapse

描述（由申请人提供）：T细胞是适应性免疫系统的中心调节细胞。它们的活化的调节在传染病、自身免疫和针对癌症的免疫应答中非常重要。免疫突触是在T细胞和抗原呈递细胞（APC）之间的界面处的明确定义的结构，抗原呈递细胞是在紧密的细胞相互作用中激活T细胞的细胞。这种结构的形成与有效的T细胞活化有关。但其功能仍在讨论中。在这里，我们提出了一种新的方法来解决的问题的免疫突触的功能。我们将确定免疫突触是否在广泛的T细胞活化条件下形成，然后确定同时发生的T细胞信号传导和效应器功能。在突触形成和特定信号或效应器功能之间建立直接关系将调用突触作为其介质，反之亦然。所有的实验方法和分析已经建立在其他应用程序的背景下，在这里，我们建议将它们应用到突触功能的问题，在一个小的独立的项目具有重大意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): T cells are the central regulatory cells of the adaptive immune system. The regulation of their activation is of great importance in infectious disease, autoimmunity, and in the immune response against cancer. The immunological synapse is a well-defined structure at the interface between T cells and antigen presenting cells (APC), the cells that activate T cells in a tight cellular interaction. The formation of this structure has been related to efficient T cell activation. However, its function is still being debated. Here we propose a new approach to address the question of the function of the immunological synapse. We will determine whether the immunological synapse forms over a wide set of T cell activation conditions and then identify T cell signaling and effector functions that occur concommitantly. The establishment of a direct relation between synapse formation and a particular signaling or effector function will invoke the synapse as its mediator and vice versa. All experimental approaches and assays have already been established in the context of other applications, here we propose to apply them to the question of synapse function in a small self-contained project of substantial significance.