The Function of the immunological synapse

描述(申请人提供)：T细胞是适应性免疫系统的中央调节细胞。它们的激活调控在感染性疾病、自身免疫和抗癌免疫反应中具有重要意义。免疫突触是T细胞和抗原提呈细胞(APC)之间的一个明确的结构，APC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T细胞的高效激活有关。然而，它的功能仍在争论中。在这里，我们提出了一种新的方法来解决免疫突触的功能问题。我们将确定免疫突触是否在一系列广泛的T细胞激活条件下形成，然后确定T细胞信号和效应器功能。突触形成与特定信号或效应器功能之间的直接关系的建立将调用突触作为其中介，反之亦然。所有的实验方法和分析都已经建立在其他应用的背景下，在这里我们建议将它们应用于一个具有重大意义的小型独立项目中的突触功能问题。

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.