Grant: Project Grant

Immune responses are initiated when specialized cells called Dendritic Cells pick up foreign particles and present them to T lymphocytes which kick off the immune response. As such, Dendritic Cells are key orchestrators of immunity. For this reason, we need to understand how Dendritic Cells are regulated. We know that there are many molecules that confer immuno-stimulatory properties to Dendritic Cells at different checkpoints of the immune response. One of these is the Lymphotoxin molecule, something we have been studying for several years. However we also know that environmental factors such as Vitamin A have profound effects on immune cells such as Dendritic Cells. Yet we know very little about how signals such as those conferred by Lymphotoxin cooperate with dietary factors to achieve a balanced immune response. This project will address these gaps in knowledge, examining how Dendritic Cells interact with their lymphoid tissue environment in the context of an inflammatory immune response in mice. We will also examine how Lymphotoxin and Vitamin A levels correlate with a specialized subset of Dendritic Cells in human blood and gut tissues. These experiments will inform our understanding of how Dendritic Cells promote and regulate immune responses.