Necessity for EFGR kinase enzymatic activity in the coordinate upregulation of a chemoattractant gene suite by vasoactive intestinal peptide in mouse lymphocytes (784.5)

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a potent chemoattractant for immune cells that is delivered by the peripheral nervous system to immune organs. However, the molecular mechanism regulating VIP’s chemoattractant properties is not known. Previously, our group published the VIP transcriptome in resting CD4 T cells, which identified a chemoattractant gene set (e.g. EGFR, Snail and syt XIII) that was coordinately upregulated. We hypothesize that these gene products control the chemoattractant activity of VIP in immune cells. Moreover, we propose that this chemoattractant gene set is transcriptionally upregulated by the transactivation of EGFR by VIP as is observed in non-immune cells, including breast and colon cancer cells. This research will utilize primary mouse splenocytes treated +/- VIP over various time intervals in an attempt to identify which FACS-sorted splenocyte subpopulations are sensitive to VIP and the extent to which the chemoattractant gene set is upregulated. Optimal conditions will be r...