This application for an Asthma and Allergic and Immunologic Diseases Cooperative Research Center represents the joint efforts of seven senior scientists with strong interests in basic research on the cellular mechanisms of allergic inflammation. These scientists, with a long history of collaborative research, have common research interests in the cells which are components of allergic inflammation. These cells bear on their surfaces or contain proteins which serve specific functions, and understanding these functions will permit control of the allergic or immunologic disease. Three overlapping themes include: 1) the function of receptors on neutrophils, including the FcgammaRII receptor: 2) mechanisms of induction, regulation and maintenance of IgE synthesis, including the role of follicular dendritic cells and the role of IgE and/or IgE immune complexes in lymphocyte activation: 3) differentiation of and markers for mast cells and basophils, including unique antigenic constituents of basophils and the regulation of mast cell genesis. An independent Demonstration and Education Research Project, will address the education and compliance deficits of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, an immunologic disease which particularly affects black women. The function of the Center will be to support these investigations and to nurture and support existing collaborations between these investigators and to foster new interactions. Although components of the Center will be located in two different Schools and several different Departments, it will be based in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, which has a strong record of basic and clinical investigation in human rheumatic and allergic disease. The Division affords a fertile environment, in terms of clinical facilities and staff expertise in the diagnosis and management of allergic and rheumatic disease, into which the results of the Center's research into basic mechanisms can be integrated and applied.
