The Broad Impact of NLRs on Immunity and Beyond

The Broad Impact of NLRs on Immunity and Beyond

Air date: Wednesday, February 05, 2014, 3:00:00 PM

Runtime: 00:59:54

Description: Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series

Dr. Jenny Ting is the discoverer of the NLR gene family and co-director of the Inflammatory Diseases Institute at the UNC School of Medicine. Her research is at the intersection of neurobiology and immunology and its relation to cancer and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

The innate immune system is governed by a variety of receptors or sensors that detect microbial pathogens and activate specific signaling pathways. More important, these receptors/sensors also have a great impact on the basic biologic processes that affect cancer, metabolic disorders, inflammation, neurologic disorders, and other diseases. The Ting group first reported on the large human NLR gene family, which comprises regulators of innate immunity and exhibits important regulatory roles in immunity and beyond. These genes provide instructions for making proteins called nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat containing (NLR) proteins, which are involved in starting and regulating the immune system's response to injury, toxins, or invasion by bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The NLR family also affects a number of processes that are involved in sterile inflammation and adaptive immunity. Many of the NLR proteins control immunity by regulating cytokine production (such as the inflammasome products IL-1beta/IL-18 and interferons), while some directly control gene expression (such as the class I and II major histocompatibility genes). Members also regulate diverse cell-death responses such as apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy, and diverse signaling pathways including NFkB and MAPKs. Dr. Ting will present evidence for the broad biologic and clinical impact of the NLR family and describe findings regarding novel NLRs.

For more information go to http://wals.od.nih.gov

Author: Dr. Jenny Ting, The Inflammatory Diseases Institute at the UNC School of Medicine

Permanent link: http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?18274

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