| Project/Area Number |
03044099
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for international Scientific Research
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | Joint Research |
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| Research Institution | Osaka University |
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Principal Investigator |
KISHIMOTO Tadamitsu Professor, Osaka University, 医学部, 教授 (10093402)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TAKATSU Kiyoshi Professor, Tokyo University, 医科学研究所, 教授 (10107055)
OKUMURA. Ko Professor, Juntendo University, 医学部, 教授 (50009700)
TANIGUCHI Tadatsugu Professor, Osaka University, 細胞工学センター, 教授 (50133616)
HONJO Tasuku Professor, Kyoto University, 医学部, 教授 (80090504)
SASAZUKI Takehiko Professor, Kyushu University, 生体防御医学研究所, 教授 (50014121)
NISHIKAWA Shinichi Professor, Kumamoto University
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| Project Period (FY) |
1991
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 1991)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000)
Fiscal Year 1991: ¥3,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000)
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| Keywords | Cytokine receptor / RAG 1 / Antigen processing / Superantigen / Autoimmune disease |
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| Research Abstract |
The US-Japan Immunology Symposium was held for 2 days at the end of January at Monterey, CA. Nine US and seven Japanese immunologists presented and discussed their up-to-date results. The discussion was focused on the topics i) genes involved in the commitment of lymphoid cells, ii) antigen processing and recognition by T cells, iii) superantigens iv) cytokines and their receptors and v) immune disorders.
The RAG-1 and RAG-2 deficient mice were prepared by gene targeting technology. The mice showed a severe combined immune deficiency due to the total lack of lymphoid cells confirming the involvement of these genes in the recombination of the Ig and T cell receptor genes.
The class I MHC epitope of a bacterial pathogen which is a nonamer peptide, was identified. Superantigens can activate large number of T cells bearing the target V beta and this can lead to diseases, such as toxic shock. EB virus was shown to make a superantigen and suggested to be involved in the activation of T cells in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
An unique structure of cytokine receptors was discussed. Both IL-6 and IL-5 receptors consist of two polypeptide chains, a ligand binding chain and a signal transducer. Signal transducers are common by utilized between several cytokine receptor systems, i. e., IL-5, IL-3 and GM-CSF utilize the same signal transducer and IL-6 and LIF utilize the same gpl30 as a signal transducer. This unique system may be able to explain pleiotropy and redundancy of cytokines.
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