SFB 854/3-2021 Teilprojekt V11 Seed Funds - Elucidating the function of metabolic transporters in T helper 2 cells that mediate asthmatic airway inflammation

Metabolic transportersrepresent one of the largest gene families and encode mostly for plasma membrane (PM)-expressed proteins, which facilitate the transports of ions, metabolites or vitamins. Therefore, metabolic transporters are important proteins involved in the energy metabolism of various cell types. However, in the immune system, metabolic transporters are understudied and their role in e.g. T cells is not fully understood yet. This is in contrast to the fact that they in principle represent prospective drug targets. In our project we aim to establish to delete specific metabolic transporters by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in mouse T cells to study their role in the metabolism of Th2 cells in vitro (Aim 1A) and on Th2 cell-mediated HDM-induced asthmatic airway inflammation in vivo (Aim 1B).