Isolation, identification & characterization of IL 18 pr

常驻的上皮细胞是器官和所有外部威胁之间的宿主防御的哨兵。已知上皮细胞如角质形成细胞通过其产生生物活性分子的能力积极参与免疫调节应答。因此，上皮细胞中IL-18的调节与宿主防御具有重要的生物学相关性。对IL-18调节机制的理解可能导致开发用于表皮组织中该细胞因子表达失调的病理生理学的治疗策略。本申请中提出的研究基本原理旨在为我们提供必要的生物材料，以正式研究IL-18表达的调控机制。基于我们对HK与HCEC中IL-18表达的观察，我们因此假设上皮组织中人IL-18的表达可能是细胞类型和刺激依赖性的高度调节事件。

The resident epithelial cells are sentinels of host defense between the organ and all external threats. Epithelial cells such as keratinocytes are known to participate actively in the immunomodulation responses through their ability to produce biologically active molecules. The regulation of IL-18 in epithelial cells is thus to significant biologic relevance to host defense. The understanding of mechanisms underlying the regulation of IL-18 may result in development of therapeutic strategies for the pathophysiology of dysregulated expression of this cytokine in the epidermal tissue. The underlying rationale of research that is proposed in this application is designed to provide us with the necessary biologic materials to formally investigate the regulatory mechanisms of IL-18 expression. Based on our observations of IL-18 expression in HK vs HCEC, we therefore hypothesize that the expression of human IL-18 in epithelial tissue is likely to be a highly regulated event that is cell type- and stimulus-dependent.