Investigating the contributions of inflammation and antigen depot to adjuvant function in vivo.

虽然我们认为我们了解疫苗是如何起作用的，但很明显，我们并不真正知道疫苗引起的免疫反应的大小和类型是如何控制的。这一点很重要，因为只有当我们能够调节产生的免疫反应的大小和类型时，许多疫苗才可行。在疫苗接种中，这种功能是由“佐剂”完成的，我们也不知道它们是如何工作的。培养实验表明，树突状细胞在控制疫苗诱导的反应中起着重要作用。然而，免疫系统的细胞并不是孤立地工作的，因此很难分析树突状细胞和其他免疫细胞在真实生理环境中的相互作用。因此，我们开发了许多最先进的技术，使我们能够在生理环境中实时描述树突状细胞的功能、它们与其他免疫细胞的相互作用以及这些过程对疫苗诱导反应的影响。只有在生理环境中实时分析这些相互作用，我们才能了解疫苗和佐剂如何控制免疫反应的大小和类型。这些基本信息将有助于产生增强对感染或癌症疫苗的免疫反应的药物，以及关闭与过敏、哮喘和自身免疫等疾病相关的不适当免疫反应。

While we think that we understand how vaccines work, it is clear that we don't really know how the magnitude and type of immune response a vaccine induces is controlled. This is important, as a number of vaccines are only feasible if we can modulate the size and type of immune response generated. In vaccination, this function is performed by 'adjuvants' and we don't really understand how they work either. Experiments in culture suggest an important role for cells, known as dendritic cells, in controlling vaccine-induced responses. However, cells of the immune system do not work in isolation and it has been difficult to analyse the interactions of dendritic cells and other immune cells in real physiological environments. We have therefore developed a number of state of the art techniques that allow us to characterise the function of dendritic cells, their interactions with other immune cells and the effects of these processes on vaccine-induced responses, in a physiological environment in real time. Only by analysing these interactions in a physiological environment in real time, can we understand how vaccines and adjuvants control the magnitude and type of immune response. This fundamental information will help produce agents to enhance the immune response to vaccines against infections or cancers, as well as to turn off inappropriate immune responses associated with diseases such as allergy, asthma and autoimmunity.