Molecular mechanisms underlying the activation of the intestinal/mucosal immune response in man and its control (O)

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

We have established a human organ culture model that allows to investigate the molecular basis of a "switch" from the physiologic tolerogenic state in the healthy intestinal mucosa into an inflammatory state of local immune cells through manipulation of the mucosal microenvironment (depletion of the epithelial layer). The molecular basis of this process is unclear at present. By analysing signalling pathways in mucosal immune cells under various conditions we expect to identify mechanisms of innate immune activation whose elicitation or, alternatively, blockade could be of therapeutic value in cancer or inflammatory disorders.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 938: Environment Specific Control of Immunological Reactivity
• International Connection: USA
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Stefan Meuer; Dr. Jutta Schröder-Braunstein