Role of a Novel Scavenger Receptor in Epithelial Inflammatory Responses

免疫系统保护我们免受感染。当我们第一次接触到感染时，所谓的？天生的？免疫系统负责检测和应对细菌和病毒以及其他进入体内的颗粒。先天系统也服务于所谓的帮助？获得的？免疫系统，防止再次感染。先天免疫的一种活动是产生炎症反应。这对抵抗感染很重要，但如果这种反应没有得到适当的控制，就会导致严重的疾病（例如哮喘和肺部的慢性阻塞性炎症）。先天免疫系统的功能取决于免疫系统细胞表面分子的表达，称为模式识别受体。这些分子能够感知病原体并引发适当的免疫反应以摆脱感染。由于其大的表面积，肺是致病的空气传播的微生物和其他媒介进入体内的主要场所。肺由专门的细胞（上皮细胞）组成，不仅提供物理屏障，而且在先天免疫中发挥重要作用（例如，它们产生有助于杀死细菌的物质）。然而，我们对它们表达的这些模式识别受体以及它们如何发挥功能以保持肺健康的了解非常有限，在本研究中，我们建议研究一种新发现的上皮特异性模式识别受体，并观察它如何参与上皮炎症反应。这种受体仅在某些上皮细胞上表达，包括肺内的一些上皮细胞。我们将研究促炎剂的性质，它可以识别和改变上皮炎症反应的受体表达的后果。这项研究将帮助我们了解肺的健康是如何正常维持的，以及在特定疾病条件下可能出现的问题。它还可能揭示治疗炎症性肺病的新方法。

The immune system protects us from infection. When we are exposed to an infection for the first time the so-called ?innate? immune system is responsible for detecting and responding to bacteria and viruses and other particles that enter the body. The innate system also serves help the so-called ?acquired? immune system, which prevents re-infection. One activity of innate immune is the generation of an inflammatory response. This is important for fighting infection, but if this response is not controlled properly severe disease results (for example, asthma and chronic obstructive inflammatory disease in the lung).The functioning of innate immune system is dependent upon the expression of molecules on the surface of immune system cells, known as pattern recognition receptors. These molecules are able to sense pathogens and trigger an appropriate immune response to get rid of the infection. Because of its large surface area, the lung is a major site where disease-causing airborne microbes and other agents enter the body. The lung is lined by specialised cells (epithelial cells), which provide not only a physical barrier but also play an important role in innate immunity (e.g. they produce substances that help kill bacteria). However, we have a very limited understanding of these pattern recognition receptors they express and how they function to keep the lung healthy.In this grant, we propose to study a newly identified epithelial-specific pattern recognition receptor and see how it is involved in epithelial inflammatory responses. This receptor is only expressed on certain epithelial cells, including some within the lung. We will investigate the nature of pro-inflammatory agents it can recognise and the consequences of altering the expression of the receptor on epithelial inflammatory responses. This research will help us to understand how the health of the lung is normally maintained and what may go wrong in specific disease conditions. It may also reveal new ways to treat inflammatory lung diseases.