Dieter Maurer

Department of Dermatology
Medical University of Vienna
Währinger Gürtel 18-20
1090 Wien
AUSTRIA

Tel.: +43-1-404007769
Fax: +43-1-403 19 00

dieter.maurer@meduniwien.ac.at
http://www.meduniwien.ac.at/dermatologie

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SFB Project F23-08

Novel molecular mechanisms of bi-directional signal exchange between dendritic cells (DCs) and T cells

SFB co-workers:

The detailed knowledge of the molecular events initiated during dendritic cell (DC)-T cell interaction and of the mechanisms that regulate the various functional lineages, stages and survival of DCs are key issues to immunology. This pertains not only to basic immunology but also, due to the introduction of DCs into human trials, to clinical medicine.

In this proposal we suggest to study novel aspects of DC biology in order to better understand their diversity as well as singularity among other APCs and to identify novel signaling pathways and molecules in DCs. This knowledge may allow to selectively inhibit or to equip these cells with defined cell functions. In particular, we propose to study in detail a novel mechanism that DCs use to amplify the engagement of antigen-specific T cell receptors (TCRs) by MHC class II molecules and the transcriptional programs of DCs that are initiated during T cell contact and have functional consequences for the DC itself and/or for T cells that encounter DCs in a cognate fashion.