Study of the role of polymorphisms within KIR and HLA-C in the immune control of Cytomegalovirus infection

免疫系统是由血液中白细胞的作用介导的，白细胞杀死被病毒感染的细胞。对病毒感染细胞的识别依赖于白细胞上的大量蛋白质，其中许多蛋白质在不同个体之间变化很大。这种变异的发生可能是因为它为应对感染的人群提供了更好的保护，但现在很清楚的是，一种名为KIR的蛋白质家族中的这种遗传变异对感染和自身免疫性疾病等疾病的进展有很大影响。巨细胞病毒是一种非常常见的病毒感染，对骨髓移植患者的研究表明，当患者免疫系统较弱时，KIR基因决定了巨细胞病毒感染重新激活的几率。在这里，我们将确定一个人的KIR基因谱如何决定他们如何处理慢性巨细胞病毒感染。特别是，我们将确定它们是否有助于预防感染，它们是否改变免疫反应的大小和性质，以及它们如何通过实验室和临床模型发挥作用。这项工作将对了解这一重要基因家族的生物学作用具有重要价值。

The immune system is mediated by the action of white cells in blood which kill cells infected by viruses. The recognition of virally-infected cells depends on a large number of proteins on the white cells and many of these are very variable between different individuals. This variation has probably occurred as it offers better protection for populations in response to infection but it is now clear that this genetic variation in a family of proteins called KIR can have a big influence on the progress of diseases such as infection and auto-immune disease.Cytomegalovirus is a very common viral infection and studies from bone marrow transplant patients has shown that the KIR genes determine the chance that CMV infection will reactivate when patients have a weakened immune system.Here we will determine how a persons KIR gene profile determines how they handle chronic infection with CMV. In particular we will establish if they help to prevent infection, whether they alter the size and nature of the immune response to established infection and also how they exert their effects using laboratory and clinical models. This work will be of significant value in understanding the biological role of this important gene family.