| Laboratories within the Clinical Immunology Section are currently examining 1) a role for various cytokines, hormones, and chemokines in leukocyte trafficking, cellular activation, and apoptosis; (2) the biological and molecular mechanism of HIV-1 entry and propagation in Th/Tc subsets and mononuclear cells obtained from young and elderly individuals; (3) the preclinical and clinical development of immunologically-based protocols focusing on promoting cellular responses in elderly populations with the ultimate goal of improving the immune function of aged and cancer-bearing individuals; (4) the molecular examination of telomere length, telomerase activity, and the various factors and genes that appear to be differentially regulated during human lymphocyte development, differentiation, and activation; (5) identification and characterization of immunosuppressive factors associated with cancer-based immunosuppression; (6) defining various oncogenes and signaling/cytoskeletal components involved in various signaling pathways within lymphocytes; (7) the development of protein-conjugate vaccines for Streptococcus pneumoniae for use in various immunoglobulin transgenic and knockout animal models as well as in the highly susceptible elderly populations; and (8) the process of generating the development of the B cell repertoire for antigen responses. |
