Discovery and Characterisation of Novel Tick Evasins as Inhibitors of Chemokine-mediated Inflammation

炎症性疾病的一个重要方面是白细胞向受影响组织的迁移。这是由一组被称为趋化因子的蛋白质控制的。虱子生活在哺乳动物宿主身上，产生一种叫做evasins的蛋白质，这种蛋白质与宿主的趋化因子相互作用，从而防止炎症反应。该项目将发现新的蜱虫逃避，研究它们的趋化因子相互作用，并调查它们在过敏性哮喘中阻断炎症的能力。

An important aspect of inflammatory diseases is the migration of white blood cells into the affected tissues. This is controlled by a group of proteins called chemokines. Ticks, which live on mammalian hosts, produce proteins called evasins, which interact with host chemokines and thereby prevent inflammatory responses. This project will discover new tick evasins, study their chemokine interactions and investigate their ability to block inflammation in allergic asthma.