Grant: Project Grant

Cell-mediated immunity (CMI) is critical for control of many globally relevant infections and diseases such as hepatitis C virus, HIV and cancers. Approaches aimed at understanding and enhancing CMI will have a profound impact on improving our health. However, we currently do not fully understand how these cells function, which have prevented researchers from successfully harnessing the therapeutic potential of CMI. A specialized immune cell that plays an essential role in CMI by killing infected and cancerous cells are CD8 T cells. These cells protect us from infection, but they can also cause disease such as autoimmunity if they are not properly regulated. Our laboratory studies how the environment impacts CD8 T cell function. Our previous results have shown that cytokines (small proteins produced following infection) can influence regulatory pathways by changing how a CD8 T cell functions. New data being generated in our laboratory suggest that certain pathogens can take advantage of these regulatory pathways to weaken CD8 T cell function and establish chronic infection within the host. We propose studies centered on understanding how pathogens can alter the biology of CD8 T cells thus providing us with the knowledge of which pathways can be targeted for therapeutic intervention. These therapeutic targets would aim to reduce the function of CD8 T cells in a situation where they cause disease (e.g. autoimmunity or transplant rejection) and increase their function in a situation where they do not function properly (e.g. chronic infection or cancer). The data being generated in our laboratory will also help develop novel vaccination approaches. CMI is our defense against invading pathogens and debilitating diseases. Increasing our understanding of how the immune system works will provide insight into how to effectively control and eliminate infections and devastating diseases such as HIV, multiple sclerosis and cancers.