D6 is a novel chemokine receptor, homologous to other members of the CC-chemokine receptor family, which recognises a number of inflammatory CC-chemokines with high affinity. The aims of this thesis were to further our understanding of the biology of D6, chiefly through characterisation of immune responses in D6-deficient animals. Firstly, as described in Chapter 3, I analysed the cellular composition of lymphoid tissues of D6 KO mice. These studies revealed higher proportions of CD11c+ and F4/80+ cells in the D6 KO spleen compared with WT controls, suggesting that increased accumulation of myeloid lineage cells was occurring at this site. In Chapter 4, I examined the role of D6 in myeloid cell responses, by comparing monocyte recruitment to the inflamed peritoneum and dendritic cell development from bone-marrow (BM) cultures. I found that while the accumulation of inflammatory monocytes/macrophages appeared quantitatively similar in WT and D6 KO animals, D6 KO cells expressed greater levels of CD11c, suggesting preferential accumulation of DC-like cells in the inflamed peritoneum. D6 may influence the development and function of myeloid lineage cells. As D6 is expressed at high levels in the small and large intestine, I next investigated both tolerogenic and inflammatory intestinal responses in D6 KO animals. As detailed in Chapter 5 of this thesis, the induction of oral tolerance in response to a high dose feeding protocol was normal in D6 KO mice. However, D6 KO mice showed increased resistance to experimental colitis. As described in Chapter 6, various D6 KO populations displayed differential chemokine receptor profiles compared with their WT counterparts. The results suggest a role for D6 in the normal development of leukocytes populations, with absence of this atypical receptor leading to the dysregulated expression of other chemokine receptors. Taken together, my data suggest that the biological functions of D6 may be more complicated than previously appreciated. Indeed, I found no evidence for a decoy role of D6 in vivo, but D6-deficient animals were characterised by altered leukocyte development, aberrant chemokine receptor expression and increased resistance to experimental colitis induction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:443200 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Bordon, Yvonne |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6552/ |
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