Class I MHC & neuroplasticity - a novel role for a classical immune molecule

人体防御系统的核心是免疫反应，它是对包括细菌、寄生虫和病毒在内的病原体的反应。免疫系统中的关键分子，包括I类主要组织相容性(MHC)，已经得到了很好的研究，并被认为是人体对病原体的基本防御的重要组成部分。最近，我们了解到，大脑也对感染和病原体做出反应，并建立自己的免疫反应。这种反应是有益的和保护性的，身体的免疫反应也是如此。最初在人体免疫系统中描述的分子现在已经在大脑中被识别出来，并且对大脑的免疫反应很重要。很长一段时间以来，我们认为大脑受到保护，不受免疫系统的影响，但实际上，不仅大脑在免疫反应过程中产生了免疫分子，其中一些分子一直存在于大脑中。我们正在了解到，这些分子可能在我们如何思考和学习中发挥重要作用。就像经典的免疫分子I类MHC一样，是这些分子中的一种，也是这项提议的重点。我们希望了解脑细胞是否有独特的方式来控制这些分子的存在，以及它们是否有助于神经细胞相互交谈的方式。

Central to the body's defence system is the immune response, triggered in response to pathogens including bacteria, parasites, and viruses.  Key molecules in the immune system, including class I major histocompatability (MHC), have been well studied and are known to be an important componet of the body's basic defences to pathogens.  Recently, we have learned that the brain also responds to infection and pathogens and mounts its own immune response.  This response is beneficial and protective, as is the body's immune response.  The same molecules that were originally described in the body's immune system have now been identified in the brain and are important to the brain's immune response.  For a long time, we thought that the brain was protected from the immune system, but in fact, not only are immune molecules produced in the brain during the brain's immune response, some of these molecules are present in the brain at all times.  We are learning that these molecules may play important roles in how we think and learn.  The classical immune molecule, class I MHC, is one of these molecules and is the focus of this proposal.  We hope to understand whether brain cells have unique ways of controling the presence of these molecules and whether they contribute to the way nerve cells talk to each other.