Hedgehog signalling in T-cell differentiation and function

T细胞是白色血细胞，使我们能够对抗传染病，也帮助我们摆脱癌症，但T细胞也可能导致自身免疫性疾病时，他们不能正常工作，并允许免疫系统攻击我们自己的身体。T细胞对于对抗疾病很重要，因为它们可以攻击病原体和癌细胞本身，还因为它们可以控制其他细胞类型的免疫反应并有助于预防炎症。有不同种类的T细胞，它们在对抗感染性疾病和调节免疫反应的其他细胞方面具有不同的功能。一些T细胞直接攻击肿瘤细胞和被病毒感染的细胞，一些T细胞释放信号，指示其他白色血细胞制造抗体或攻击病原体。一些T细胞还调节免疫系统的其他细胞，以防止炎症和自身免疫性疾病。当T细胞不能正常工作时，我们更容易患上传染病和癌症，也更容易患上自身免疫性疾病，如类风湿性关节炎和1型糖尿病。因此，了解T细胞的功能以及控制它们不同功能的因素对人类健康和动物健康非常重要。该项目将研究影响T细胞如何对抗疾病以及它们如何生存和分裂的因素。我们将研究一个被称为刺猬蛋白的分子家族，以及它们对T细胞的影响。我们的目标是找出刺猬蛋白在不同类型的T细胞中的作用，以及它们是否控制T细胞的功能。我们还将研究不同的Hedgehog蛋白如何在T细胞中发挥这些作用。

T-cells are white blood cells that enable us to fight infectious disease and also help us to get rid of cancer, but T-cells can also cause autoimmune disease when they do not function properly and allow the immune system to attack our own bodies. T-cells are important for fighting disease both because they can attack pathogens and cancer cells themselves and because they can control the immune response of other cell types and help to prevent inflammation. There are different kinds of T-cells which have different functions in fighting infectious disease and regulating other cells of the immune response. Some T-cells directly attack tumour cells and cells which are infected by viruses and some T-cells release signals which instruct other white blood cells to make antibodies or to attack pathogens. Some T-cells also regulate other cells of the immune system to prevent inflammation and autoimmune disease. When T-cells do not function properly we become more likely to suffer from infectious disease and cancer, and also more likely to get autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. It is therefore very important for human health and the health of animals to understand how T-cells function and what controls their different functions. This project will investigate factors that influence how T-cells fight disease and how they survive and divide. We will investigate a family of molecules known as Hedgehog proteins and what effect they have on T-cells. We aim to find out what Hedgehog proteins do in the different kinds of T-cells and if they control how T-cells function. We will also investigate how the different Hedgehog proteins have these effects in T-cells.