SFB 938:  Environment Specific Control of Immunological Reactivity

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 178696424

The goal of this Collaborative Research Centre is to elucidate the influences of different microenvironments of the body on functions of immunocompetent cells. Given that mobility represents one of the unique features of the immune organ whose cellular subsets, therefore, exist only temporarily in the various microenvironments, it follows that they have to communicate intensely with the latter. Thus, influences of microenvironments dominate the hierarchy of immunoregulatory functions in the immune response.
When one compares the various cellular subsets of the immune organ in various microenvironments, it is obvious that particularly cells of the myeloid lineage differ largely from each other. These cells (monocytes/macrophages/different types of dendritic cells) are all derived from common myeloid precursors, which following their immigration into the microenvironments become functionally and phenotypically adjusted. Immune mediated chronic inflammatory diseases are considered to result from impairment of communication between environment and immunocompetent cells. This issue is addressed here predominantly in the human system but also in appropriate experimental animal models.
The majority of projects deal with comparative investigations of 'level II', i.e. environment specific cells of the myeloid lineage and their regulatory influences on effector cells. Another focus of this approach is the investigation of metabolites, as produced in or from environmental cells, which are probably of immense importance for environment specific as well as interindividual quantitative differences of cellular immune reactions. The latter are typical for comparative investigations in the human immune system in different individuals. We need to be able to describe and measure their basis precisely, because this appears to be key for the development of individualised, organ specific immune therapies, which are essential for rational intervention into the individually built immune system.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• International Connection: USA

Completed projects

• A - Modulation of T Cell Reactivity by Tissue Cells (Project Head Arnold, Bernd )
• B - Control of tumor-specific T cell responses through regulatory T cells (Project Heads Beckhove, Philipp ;  Jäger, Dirk )
• C - Modulation of miRNA Expression Reveals Plasticity of Human Immune Function (Project Heads Bekeredjian-Ding, Isabelle Béatrice ;  Heeg, Klaus Michael )
• D - Time and cell specific regulation of NF-kB subunit specific signalling pathways terminating inflammation in immunological systems (Project Heads Bierhaus, Angelika ;  Nawroth, Peter )
• E - Control of peripheral immune reactions through bronchial epithelial cells (Project Head Dalpke, Alexander )
• F - Flightless-1 as a redox sensor in immune cells (Project Head Dick, Tobias )
• G - Rage as regulatory molecule in cutaneous chronic inflammation (Project Heads Enk, Alexander ;  Gebhardt, Christoffer )
• H - Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) and tumor progression: functional plasticity and progression-dependent TAM target molecules in malignant melanoma (Project Head Goerdt, Sergij )
• I - Lipid activated nuclear receptors LXR? and ? in chronic fibrosing inflammation (Project Heads Gröne, Hermann-Josef ;  Porubsky, Stefan )
• K - Control of CNS tumor immunity through tryptophan catabolism (Project Heads Platten, Michael ;  Wick, Wolfgang )
• L - Stability and Violation of the Lymphoid and Myeloid Dichotomy in the Immune System (Project Head Rodewald, Hans-Reimer )
• M - Micromilieue-induced alterations of the cytoskeleton and their influence on the activation, migration and effector functions of hematopoetic cells (Project Head Samstag, Yvonne )
• N - Studies on the immune function of human slan-dendritic cells in psoriasis (Project Head Schäkel, Knut )
• O - Molecular mechanisms underlying the activation of the intestinal/mucosal immune response in man and its control (Project Heads Meuer, Stefan ;  Schröder-Braunstein, Jutta )
• P - Ectopic expression of tissiue-restricted antigens in human thymic epithelial cells: regulation and inter-.individual variations. (Project Head Kyewski, Bruno )
• Z01 - Zentrale Aufgaben des Sonderforschungsbereichs (Project Head Meuer, Stefan )
• Z02 - Tissue bank for inflammatory diseases (Project Heads Enk, Alexander ;  Lasitschka, Felix )

• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Participating Institution: Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Stefan Meuer