| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,940,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,140,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Langerhans cells (LC) belong to dendritic cell lineage, and mainly reside within surface compartment such as skin and mucosa. Similar to keratinocytes (KCs) within the skin, the LCs express E-cadherin, by which LC are tethered within the skin and search external foreign antigenic molecules through their unique receptor, langerin. LCs also express DEC-205 molecules and the DEC-205-positive cells have the capacity to present processed antigenic fragment from external antigens through class I MHC molecules to suitable T cells. Here, we found α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), a known stimulant for natural killer T (NKT) cells, efficiently activate the DEC-205-positive DCs/LCs and induce cellular immunity organized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) that eliminate virus-infected cells and cancer cells.
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