The role of SOCS1 in the immune response

Funded Activity Summary

T cells are a central component of the immune system and without T cells the body is very vulnerable to infections. One subgroup of T cells is the killer T cells that are important for identifying and killing cells infected by viruses and bacteria. The immune system works to maintain T cell numbers at a fairly constant level and part of this process includes sending signals to the killer T cells from other cells via cell surface protein interactions and soluble mediators, such as cytokines. We have been studying killer T cells, which are missing a protein SOCS1. SOCS1 is important for switching off the signals generated by a group of cytokines. As a consequence of being unable to correctly regulate cytokine signals these killer T cells multiply inappropriately and contribute to disease development. Our current work is aimed at achieving a better understanding of the particular interactions between killer T cells and other immune system cells and the soluble factors that deliver important signals for maintaining killer T cells in the immune system. The ability to better understand the factors controlling the maintenance of killer T cells will enable us to more intelligently target the immune system ,which is important for improving vaccine strategies and cancer immunotherapy as well as for controlling T cells that are activated inappropriately, such as in autoimmune disease.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2007

End Date: 01-01-2009

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $326,252.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Clinical chemistry (incl. diagnostics)

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

autoimmunity | cytokine regulation | cytotoxic T cell | dendritic cells | homeostasis | immune regulation | memory T-cells

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