Dendritic cells (DC) represent potent antigen presenting cells crucial in generation and regulation of immunity as well as tolerance, therefore it is of a particular interest to search for substances with adjuvant properties to instruct DC to modulate T cell-mediated immune responses. The adjuvant nature of cAMP signalling generated by cholera toxin is well documented. Here, we propose to investigate adjuvant activity of B. pertussis adenylate cyclase toxin (CyaA) to induce DC maturation and modulate the ability of DC to prime antigen specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in respect to their potential use in immunotherapy. Furthermore, the generation of antigen-induced T regulatory cells by CyaA-treated DC shall be examined together with their potential to prevent the onset of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mouse model. Also the possibility of expansion of CD4+CD25+Fox3p+ Treg by CyaA-treated DC will be tested. Ex vivo CyaA-treated DC might present an elegant strategy how to use adjuvant properties of CyaA-mediated cAMP signalling and bypass its possible toxic effects in vivo. (en)
Cílem projektu je charakterizovat vliv působení adenylát-cyklázového toxinu na maturaci dendritických buněk a na jejich schopnost indukova specifické T buněčné odpovědi, včetně expanze T regulačních buněk s imunoterapeutickým potenciálem.