« Forschungslandschaft: Projekte

Clear links exist between infections and autoimmunity in the elderly population. For instance, autoimmune reactions are often observed during an immune response towards a pathogen and examples of molecular mimicry of self and foreign antigens have been described. On the other hand, patients with autoimmune diseases receive immunosuppressive medication and, thus, are prone to infectious complications. Since macrophages constitute a first line of defense against invading pathogens, but are also involved in autoimmune disease and tissue repair, we will concentrate on this cell type. We and others have shown that NF-kB and YB-1 are important regulators of macrophage biology. Therefore, we will perform extensive immune phenotyping in autoimmune patients and healthy controls and measure the expression levels of NF-kB components and YB-1. Furthermore, we will analyze primary macrophages from patients and controls with respect to cytokine production and phagocytic activity.