Cellular and Molecular Pathways Regulating Airway Mucosal Dendritic Cells During Onset of Allergic Airways Inflammation

过敏性呼吸道炎症(AAI)导致过敏性哮喘等衰弱疾病，是一种免疫系统对基本上无害的内源性过敏原的异常活动所致的疾病。树突状细胞(DC)和辅助性T细胞2型(Th2细胞)是免疫系统中两种特殊的细胞类型，它们在控制AAI的发生和持续过程中起重要作用。DC位于呼吸道的所有部分，在向Th2细胞提供控制信号以启动并开始对吸入的过敏原做出反应方面非常重要。Th2细胞然后产生各种信号，启动针对过敏原的级联免疫反应，如果不加以控制，最终可能导致AAI和哮喘，然而，这一过程相对知之甚少。该项目旨在研究DC和Th2是如何相互作用的，以及DC的活性可以被调节到什么水平，以便控制对无害的吸入性过敏原的未受抑制的Th2免疫。希望能够识别新的细胞和分子途径，最终成为新一代预防和治疗药物的靶点。

Allergic airways inflammation (AAI), which leads to debilitating disease such as allergic asthma, is a condition medaited by the abnormal activity of the immune system towards essentially harmless inhlaed allergens. Two special cell types of the immmune system that are important in controlloing the onset and persistence of AAI are known as dendritic cells (DC) and T helper type 2 cells (Th2 cells). DC are located in all parts of the respiratory tract and are important in providing control signals to Th2 cells to become switched on and start to react to an inhaled allergen. Th2 cells then generate a variety of signals that initiate an cascade of immune responses towards the allergen that ultimately can lead to AAI and asthma if left unchecked, however this process remians relatively poorly understood. This project aims to examine how DC and Th2 interact, and at what level DC activity can be regulated so that unchecked Th2 immunity to harmless inhaled allergens can be controlled. The hope is to be able to identify new cellular and molecular pathways that can eventually become the target for new generations of preventative and therapeutic drugs.