The Turnover Rate of Human CD4+CD25+ T cells in vivo

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Our bodies mount immune responses when attacked by infectious organisms. The central participants in this response are our white cells, the soldiers that combat the infective agents. However, these white cells are under strict orders not to attack helathy tissue by friendly fire and these commands come in part from a particular kind of white cell known as regulatory cells. Little is known about how these regulatory cells are trained in the body and where they are recruited from. The main objective of this project is to determine if these cells are recruited from the ranks of the responsive immune army and if so, what additional training does this involve ? We will also determine if the ageing and potentially dysfunctional immune army in elderly humans who are over 80 years old can be trained to become regulatory cells in the same way as those in young people. The timing of this study is highly opotimal as we will be using two different novel human experimental systems that we have already developed, that enable us to investigate immune cells and immune responses in humans in vivo.