Third Party Funds Group - Sub project
Acronym: TP 3
Start date : 01.07.2020
End date : 30.06.2023
a2,6-linked sialic acid residues are potent modulators of cellular and humoral immune responses. Thus, mice lacking either a functional St6gal1 gene or the corresponding receptors recognizing a2,6-linked sialic acid residues show impaired immune responses. While it has become well established that a2,6-linked sialic acid residues are critical modulators of human and mouse IgG activity, much less is known about how a2,6-linked sialic acid residues impact B cell development and function intrinsically and how a lack of serum immunoglobulin sialylation affects humoral immune homeostasis in general. By generating mice with a B cell specific deletion of ST6Gal1 we will dissect how a B cell intrinsic loss of a2,6-linked sialylation impacts B cell development and T cell-dependent and independent immune responses. In addition, we will investigate how a B cell specific lack of a2,6 sialylation alone or in combination with other checkpoints of humoral tolerance impacts autoreactive B cell responses.