Life Sciences Commons^™

Wc1 And Tcr Interactions For Γδ T Cell Activation, Alexandria Gillespie

Doctoral Dissertations

Major subpopulations of gamma delta T cells within ruminant and pigs are defined by expression of WC1, a hybrid pattern recognition receptor/co-receptor to the T cell receptor (TCR). It is known that when WC1 is knocked down cells fail to respond. Showing that WC1 plays an active role in the stimulation of bovine gamma delta T cells. Here we explored the spatio-temporal dynamics of WC1 and TCR interaction using imaging flow cytometry and stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy. We found that in quiescent gamma delta T cells both WC1 and TCR existed in separate protein domains (protein islands) but after activation …

Elucidating Cellular Signaling Pathways That Contribute To The Immunopathogenesis Of Aplastic Anemia, Christina M. Kuksin

Doctoral Dissertations

Aplastic Anemia is a rare immune mediated bone marrow failure disease that is mediated by autoreactive T cells that cause destruction to the stem, progenitor, and stromal cells in the bone marrow. Because little is known about the etiology of the disease, our lab has developed a major MHC mismatch GVHD model to examine cellular pathways in autoreactive T cells that contribute to disease. We examined three pathways that are important in T cell activation and differentiation and asked if they were important in the development of Aplastic Anemia. First, we were able to show that expression of active PKCθ …

Non-Canonical Notch Signaling Regulates Activation And Differentiation Of Peripheral Cd4+ T Cells, Anushka Dongre

Doctoral Dissertations

Cleavage of the Notch receptor via a γ-secretase, results in the release of the active intra-cellular domain of Notch that migrates to the nucleus and interacts with RBP-J_Κ, resulting in the activation of downstream target genes. This canonical Notch signaling pathway has been documented to influence T-cell development and function. However, the mechanistic details underlying this process remain obscure. In addition to RBP-J_Κ, the intra-cellular domain of Notch also interacts with other proteins in the cytoplasm and nucleus, giving rise to the possibility of an alternate, RBP-J_Κ independent Notch pathway. However, the contribution of such RBP-J …

The Role Of A Glycosyltransferase, St6gal I In Regulating Viral Specific T And B Cell Responses, Junwei Zeng

Doctoral Dissertations

Glycosylation is one of the most abundant post-translational modifications of proteins. Glycoproteins participate in virtually all aspects of cellular functions. ST6Gal I is a glycosyltransferase highly expressed by B and T cells. Here, we interrogated the role of ST6Gal I in viral specific B and T cell immune responses, as well as examined how loss of this enzyme impacted viral pathogenesis.

First, to understand how loss of ST6Gal I expression impacted viral specific humoral responses, we infected ST6Gal I^-/- mice with influenza virus. We discovered that loss of ST6Gal I expression results in both reduced influenza specific antibodies levels …