Final Activity and Management Report Summary - DCSUBTYPESPROTEOMICS (Characterisation of the functional heterogeneity of lymphoid organ dendritic cells by proteomic analysis of plasma membrane ...)
Dendritic cells provide the primary line of surveillance against pathogens and cancer cells, and initiate immune responses by activating other cells of the immune system. They are a heterogeneous population of cells and each subtype seems to play a distinct role in immune responses. The main goal of this project was to characterise the functional specialisations of the different dendritic cell types. We have analysed the whole protein composition of the 2 main dendritic cell subsets of mouse lymphoid organs using a large-scale analysis technique called proteomics. We found that many molecules were expressed differentially.
We analysed in more details the functions of some of these proteins, and established that they endow dendritic cell subtypes with different abilities in terms of pathogen recognition and activation of immune responses. Understanding how dendritic cell subsets function and co-operate with each other may allow us to develop new, more effective vaccines and therapeutic treatments against cancer, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases.
We analysed in more details the functions of some of these proteins, and established that they endow dendritic cell subtypes with different abilities in terms of pathogen recognition and activation of immune responses. Understanding how dendritic cell subsets function and co-operate with each other may allow us to develop new, more effective vaccines and therapeutic treatments against cancer, autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases.