NKT细胞免疫突触的超分辨成像与NKT细胞功能

细胞间的结构是细胞与细胞间直接相互作用的基础。细胞间结构与细胞功能的关系一直是细胞生物学领域内的重要科学问题。NKT细胞与抗原提呈细胞间免疫突触的形成，是激活NKT细胞，释放Th1和Th2型细胞因子，调节免疫应答的关键。同一种细胞如何能引起不同的免疫应答，一直是NKT细胞领域内重要但未解决的科学问题。NKT细胞与抗原提呈细胞形成的免疫突触的结构目前仍不清楚。解析NKT细胞免疫突触间生物大分子组成的特殊结构，揭示突触结构与NKT细胞功能间的关系，也是我们探寻NKT细胞调节免疫应答机制的新思路。在本项目中，我们将采用超分辨荧光成像系统，揭示NKT细胞与抗原提呈细胞间免疫突触的超分辨结构和关键分子事件，并进一步研究抗原提呈细胞、抗原、表面受体对突触间超分辨结构、NKT细胞功能的影响，阐明细胞间结构对细胞功能的影响，揭示NKT细胞调节免疫应答的分子细胞机制。

Cell and cell interaction requires special structures formed at their contact interface, which indicates a direction for cell biologists to understand cell function and cell fate, from synaptic structure to cell function. Synapse between NKT cell and antigen presenting cell (APC) is crucial for activation of NKT cell, and consequently secretion of both Th1 and Th2 cytokines and its regulatory functions. It is unclear for the whole NKT field, how same cell directs different immune responses. The structures composed of biological molecules at the synapse of NKT-APC, which suggest a new way to understand the functions and mechanisms of NKT cell in regulating immune responses, need to be discovered. With super resolution microscopy, we will characterize the structures and also crucial molecular events happened at immunological synapse between NKT cell and APC. In further study, we will demonstrate the influence of APCs 、antigens、co-receptors on formation of synaptic structures and NKT cell function. Our work will indicate the mechanisms of NKT cell in regulating immune responses.