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

人类主要组织相容性复合体中新疾病易感基因的功能表征

• 批准号: G0600681/1
• 负责人: Robert Campbell
• 金额: $ 104.29万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=G0600681%2F1
• 关键词: Functional; Characterisation; Novel; Disease; Susceptibility

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.

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。它由大量蛋白质控制，这些蛋白质存在于血液中循环的T淋巴细胞、B淋巴细胞和巨噬细胞的细胞表面。其中一些细胞表面蛋白直接参与识别和消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，这就无法发生，这些蛋白允许淋巴细胞和巨噬细胞相互作用，从而刺激或抑制免疫反应。不幸的是，有时免疫反应失控，开始攻击自己的组织。这种情况的结果被称为自身免疫性疾病，其中一个常见的例子是风湿性关节炎。这项研究的目的是鉴定两种位于人类基因组中与风湿性关节炎易感性相关的细胞表面蛋白，通过鉴定它们在哪些细胞上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，以确定不同人群中这些细胞表面蛋白存在的差异，我们希望了解这些蛋白质如何导致某些人更容易患上风湿性关节炎。