Molecular Biology Commons^™

Metallothionein Gene Dose And The Immune Response, Meaghan Roy-O-Reilly

Honors Scholar Theses

Metallothionein (MT) is a small, cysteine-rich protein with significant immunomodulatory activity. It has been shown to play a critical role in important cellular mechanisms including heavy metal detoxification, essential metal management and the inflammatory response. MT production can be induced by a number of cellular stressors and acts to lessen the harmful effects of oxidizing agents and heavy metal exposure. Previous studies have shown that the dose of the metallothionein gene present in an individual may have significant effects on the adaptive immune response, yet the mechanism behind this phenomenon remains unknown. We hypothesize that the gene dose of metallothionein …