The various types of Immune cells begin their lives as hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow, from here, the presence of different transcriptional regulatory networks, transcription factors, proteins, and microenvironmental factors such as the exposure to antigen, can contribute to determining their fate as they differentiate into various cell types, and develop accordingly. Once activated, immune cells can proceed to the area of infection, circulate through the blood and lymph, or return to the peripheral lymphoid organs. It has been shown that many immune cells migrate back to the bone marrow, where they can remain in different activation states for an extended period of time, and the proteins they secrete, or express on their surface, can act as markers, suggesting where and what exposure they have experienced. The bone marrow has long been known for hematopoiesis and its role as a primary lymphoid organ, however the full extent of its role as a secondary lymphoid organ has not yet been explored, it is known to be involved with the regulation, function and survival of memory B and T cells in particular, as the number of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the bone marrow is maintained with aging, the composition changes, showing an increase in Memory cells and a decrease in Naïve cells. Just as there are many factors dictating the developmental fate of lymphocytes, many factors have been suggested to possibly contribute or control whether or not cells will migrate back to the bone marrow. The importance of understanding the mechanisms of long-lived cellular immune response generation is important in vaccine research and development, and particularly interesting in biomedical aging research to aid the safety and effectiveness of administered vaccines among a society with a rapidly growing elderly population.
My project involves the characterisation of Bone Marrow Mononuclear cells (BMMC’s) isolated from patients undergoing hip replacement surgery, based on their phenotypes, functions, maturity and specificity.
