Encephalitogenic T cells during preclinical EAE: migratory behavior and functional analysis of fluorescent GFP-transduced T cells (B10)

• Subject Area: Molecular and Cellular Neurology and Neuropathology
• Term: from 2009 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 29837756

The project will investigate molecular cues that guide the infiltration of pathogenic T cells into the CNS in EAE. During the previous funding period we have shown that encephalitogenic T cells in the lung undergo a drastic reprogramming of their expression profile that allows them to enter the CNS. In the next funding period we will combine intravital 2-PM microscopy, molecular characterization and target genetic manipulations in order to investigate the infiltration steps of the migratory cells into the CNS. In particular we want to address the following questions: 1. What are the migratory cues that guide effector T cells at the BBB? - 2. What is the role of myeloid cells in the opening of the BBB? - 3. Which cues determine the trafficking of T cell in the leptomeninges, and from the leptomeninges into the different CNS compartments (cerebrospinal fluid and CNS parenchyma)? - 4. How do chemokines, integrins and activation influence the migratory behavior of immune cells in the CNS parenchyma?

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 43: The Brain as a Target of Inflammatory Processes
• Applicant Institution: shared FU Berlin and HU Berlin through:; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Co-Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Alexander Flügel; Professorin Dr. Francesca Odoardi