Scientific Abstract

Proposal No.  NICE-01
Principal Investigator:  Charles Elson, M.D.
Applicant Organization:  University of Alabama at Birmingham (U.S.A.)
Project Title:  Establish mouse T-cell lines that respond to novel bacterial antigens
Period of Award:  January 1, 2003 - December 31, 2005

Aims:

   1.    Expression clone, sequence and express the enteric bacterial antigens driving disease in selected animal models.  Use a polyhistidine tagged plasmid system to facilitate identification and isolation of the recombinant proteins at subsequent stages.

   2.     Test the antigens detected in 2 and 3 against human sera from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients using ELISA.  Using the results generated, selected enteric bacterial libraries will be screened and the antigens of the bacterial flora that are recognized by Crohn’s serum IgG, but not control serum IgG, will be cloned and expressed.  Positives will be tested for T cell reactivity in patients and controls.  Depending on results, we will create and screen an enteric bacterial library from humans in a similar fashion.  This component will be facilitated by results from the parallel project defining changes in intestinal microbiota in experimental intestinal inflammation in IBD patients.