Elucidating mechanisms for the biological activities of CD46.

CD46蛋白可以进入许多不同病原体的细胞，包括麻疹病毒、脑膜炎奈瑟菌(脑膜炎球菌疾病的主要原因)、淋病奈瑟菌、人类疱疹病毒6和A组链球菌。此外，通过与通常附着在外来病原体上的关键血液成分结合，CD46可以促进其他病原体的结合和进入。除了促进病原体的进入外，最近变得明显的是，CD46结合触发了来自人类宿主的广泛反应。其中一些反应可能进一步促进病原体的生存和增殖，但其他反应更有可能促进宿主防御。例如，与CD46结合触发的信号既可以消除免疫反应的某些方面(尽管这种免疫抑制导致每年近100万儿童死亡的继发感染)，也可以促进免疫反应的其他方面。通过了解CD46触发这些复杂反应的机制，我们首先能够剖析这些过程中的每个过程对病毒或细菌的整体致病性有多重要。此外，这种理解将使我们能够设计出更好的疫苗和药物来对抗这些疾病。

The CD46 protein enables entry into cells of a number of different pathogens, including the measles virus, Neisseria meningitidis (the major cause of meningococcal disease), Neisseria gonorrhoea, Human Herpes Virus 6, and group A streptococcus. In addition, by binding to a key blood component that is often attached to foreign pathogens, CD46 can facilitate binding and entry of other pathogens. As well as facilitating entry of the pathogen, it has recently become apparent that CD46 binding triggers a wide range of responses from the human host. Some of these responses are likely to further facilitate survival and proliferation of the pathogen, but others are more likely to facilitate host defence. For examples, signals triggered by binding to CD46 can both abrogate some aspects of the immune response (and it is though that this immunosuppression contributes to the secondary infections that cause the death of nearly one million children each year) and facilitate other aspects of the immune response. By understanding the mechanisms by which CD46 triggers these complex responses, we firstly be able to dissect how important each of these processes are to the overall pathogenecity of the virus or bacteria. Furthmore, this understanding will allow us to design better vaccines and drugs to combat these diseases.