The role of the homeoboxprotein HoxA9 for plasmacytoid dendritic cell development and Toll-like receptor mediated FIN-alpha production
Final Report Abstract
We could demonstrate that the transcription factor HOXA9 is important for the differentiation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and TLR9 mediated IFN-α production in vitro. However, ex vivo analysis of pDCs showed that HOXA9 deficiency does not influence pDC numbers in bone marrow and spleen, as well as TLR9 mediated IFN-α production. We therefore decided to change focus of the project and analyzed in more detail nucleic acid activation of pDCs. We identified TLR9 as new pattern recognition receptor of retroviral RNA-DNA hybrids and identified dsRNA covalently coupled to cholesterol as new formulation of stimulation pDCs without the need for transfection reagents. The latter observation may have impact on the generation of new adjuvants or therapeutics against infections.
Publications
- 2012. Toll-like receptor 9, what o'clock is it? Immunity 36:159-161
Obermann, H.L., and S. Bauer
