Project 1

Dioxin-like Compounds Suppress IgM Responses by Targeting CD5+ (Innate-like) B cells, which can Serve as a Biomarker of Susceptibility to Environmental AHR Ligands

Dioxin-like halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (DLC) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that suppress antibody responses. A population of white blood, termed CD5+ B cells, is exquisitely sensitive to suppression by DLC and accounts for impairment of antibody responses. This project uses human white blood cells to elucidate the mechanism by which DLC suppress antibody responses in CD5+ B cells and also proposes to use the percentage of circulating CD5+ B cells as an indicator of human sensitivity to immune suppression by DLC.