Calpain 15 activity in immune regulation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Pichlmair
• Subject Area: Immunology ; Virology
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 406318528

The innate immune system consists of a network of sensors and signalling molecules. The regulation of this system is very complex and only partially understood. However, all circulating viruses evolutionary evolved to perturb this system in order to propagate their spread. We used an affinity proteomics approach to identify hitherto unknown components of the innate immune system. Through these screens we identified the protease calpain 15 (CAPN15) as interaction partner of the immunomodulatory protein ML of Thogotovirus. Preliminary experiments show that CAPN15 interacts with TRAF2 and DIABLO, which are components of the TNF-dependent NF-kB signaling pathway. Functionally CAPN15 regulates TNF-dependent signaling, but does not influence signaling elicited by IL1-beta. Here we propose to study the function of CAPN15 for the innate immune system. We plan to use a combination of functional and proteomic analyses and to study the function of CAPN15 in vivo.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants