Functional Characterisation of Novel Disease Susceptibility Genes in the Human Major Histocompatibility Complex

我们的免疫系统对我们抵抗细菌和病毒感染的能力至关重要。它是由大量蛋白质控制的，这些蛋白质存在于血液中循环的细胞表面，被称为T淋巴细胞、B淋巴细胞和巨噬细胞。其中一些细胞表面蛋白直接参与识别和清除体内的细菌和病毒。然而，如果没有其他细胞表面蛋白的帮助，淋巴细胞和巨噬细胞就无法相互作用，从而刺激或抑制免疫反应。不幸的是，有时免疫反应会失控，开始攻击自己的组织。其结果是自身免疫性疾病，其中一个常见的例子是类风湿性关节炎。这项研究的目的是表征人类基因组中与类风湿关节炎易感性相关的两种细胞表面蛋白，通过识别它们在哪些细胞上被发现以及它们与哪些其他细胞表面蛋白相互作用来了解它们在正常免疫反应中的作用。通过将这种功能特征与研究相结合，确定不同人群中存在的这些细胞表面蛋白质的差异，我们希望了解这些蛋白质是如何导致一些人更容易患上类风湿关节炎的。

Our immune system is critical to our ability to fight bacterial and viral infections. It is controlled by a large number of proteins which are found on the surface of cells that circulate in the blood called T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and macrophages. Some of these cell surface proteins are directly involved in the recognition and elimination of bacteria and viruses from the body. However, this cannot happen without the help of other cell surface proteins which allow lymphocytes and macrophages to interact with one another and this stimulates or dampens down the immune response. Unfortunately, sometimes the immune response gets out of control and begins to attack one’s own tissue. The results of this are conditions called autoimmune diseases, a common example of which is Rheumatoid Arthritis.The purpose of this research is to characterise two of these cell surface proteins which lie in a region of the human genome associated with susceptibility to Rheumatoid Arthritis, to understand their roles in the normal immune response through identifying which cells they are found on and which other cell surface proteins they interact with. By combining this functional characterisation with research to identify the differences which exist in these cell surface proteins in different people we hope to understand how these proteins can cause some people to be more susceptible to developing Rheumatoid Arthritis.