Regulation and function of Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC) in primary endothelial cells

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (commonly abbreviated as DARC) is a molecule on cells that line blood vessels known as endothelial cells. DARC exists in many species of mammals including humans, suggesting that it has an important function. However, what DARC does on endothelial cells is not known. One of the reasons why the function of DARC is not understood is because endothelial cells stop making DARC when they are grown in the lab. For some reason, DARC can only be detected on the endothelial cells of animals and not on endothelial cells grown on dishes in the lab. My lab discovered that letting endothelial cells on a dish be exposed to blood caused the endothelial cells to start making DARC again. This lucky observation may allow us to study what DARC does in endothelial cells. In this grant application, we are proposing to find out how human blood causes the endothelial cells to make DARC. What component of the blood is having this effect? Next, we will figure out why DARC goes away from the cells in the absence of blood. Lastly, we will figure out the purpose of DARC in endothelial cells. We believe that DARC is probably governing the immune system because white blood cells interact with endothelial cells when they respond to an infection. Our study is important because understanding what DARC does and how DARC production is governed will increase our understanding of the immune system.