Research being conducted by Dr. Daniel Mueller, Professor of Medicine and Division Director
Chronic antigen recognition in the absence of costimulatory ligands normally leads to clonal anergy induction, rather than aggressive immunity. This does not appear to be true, however, for individuals who are lymphopenic, where antigen recognition invariably leads to an expansion of the clone, continued functional responsiveness, and in some case immunopathology. Recent experimental observations from his laboratory, and others, have suggested a role for single chain E3 ligases in this counter-regulation of clonal expansion and induction of clonal anergy. Other recently published studies in the laboratory have defined the importance of ongoing antigen recognition within peripheral tissues to facilitate the accumulation of effector T-cells capable of inducing tissue damage. Finally, experiments are underway that investigate the mechanisms by which histone modifications regulate gene transcription and promote the development of a clonal anergy state that can prevent the development of autoimmune arthritis.
