Tuesday, February 23, 2010

HLH Research Grants

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has awarded 2 supplemental awards to an existing grant for HLH research originally awarded in 2007 to Dr. Michael Jordan at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. With the addition of these supplements, Dr. Jordan will be receiving approximately $500,000 over the next two years for his research.

This research is focused on developing an animal model of HLH to test the hypothesis that perforin-dependant cytotoxic killing of selected dendritic cells by CD8+ T cells limits the entry and/or persistence of antigen in DC populations, and thereby limits immune activation.

To test this hypothesis, the research will pursue the following specific aims:

1.) Define how antigen handling and presentation differ between WT and prf DC subsets after LCMV infection.

2.) Determine whether CD8+ T cells are the principle cell type that suppresses DC stimulatory function via a perforin-dependant mechanism.

This project will lead to better understanding of how cytotoxic function regulates the immune response and lead to improved therapies for patients with HLH and perhaps many other immunopathologic disorders.

You can read more about the grants and the research at the following link:

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