Kathrin Gibbert

Antiretroviral and immunomodulatory effects of Toll-like receptor ligands and Type I Interferon subtypes

The Toll-like receptor (TLR)  system plays an important role in sensing infectious pathogens. Their signals induce the coordinated activation of innate and adaptive immune response. Such an activation results in the expression of Type I Interferons and inflammatory cytokines including TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1beta. There exist 11 members of the TLR family in mice which detect bacterial, fungal or viral components. During viral infections, the initial response of the immune system is the induction of Type I IFN and that causes an antiviral, anti-proliferative and immunomodulatory action. In mice Type I Interferon belongs to a multigene family with 14 IFN-alpha subtype genes, but only one IFN-beta gene. Interestingly, individual IFN-alpha subtypes differ extremely in their biological activity. However, nothing is known yet about the exact biological function and induction of IFN-alpha subtypes in a retroviral infection.
We are using the Friend retrovirus model to determine the antiviral and immunomodulatory effect of different TLR ligands and also the biological activity of different IFN-alpha subtypes during an acute retroviral infection in mice. We want to analyze the exact mechanisms which underlie the therapeutic effects of these agents.

1st supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ulf Dittmer
2nd supervisor: Prof. Dr. Klaus Überla

Institute:
Department of Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen

Telephone: +49 (0)201 - 723 - 3042

E-mail: kathrin.gibbert@uni-due.de