Many of these receptors are pattern-recognition (PRR) receptors that are important for recognition of pathogens. The receptors can be divided into two families based on structure.
The first of these is the C-type lectin family of receptors (CLR). Examples are Dectin-2, which is important for the recognition of fungi, and Mincle which recognizes certain fungal species, bacteria, and mycobacteria. The latter is of great importance for research on tuberculosis, since Mincle recognizes "cord factor", one of the most important virulence factors for mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The second family is the immunoglobulin superfamily. Here we are interested in a group of receptors expressed by myeloid cells that contain a single Ig-like domain. Of particular interest are the TREM and the CD300 receptor families which we cloned over 20 years ago. Genetic variants of TREM-2 are one of the most important risk factors for the development of Alzheimers disease. The role of the CD300 receptors is not entirely clear, but some members of the receptor family have been shown to recognize phosphatidylserine. We have previously shown that CD300LF and TREM-2 can play important, opposing roles in the development of osteoclasts.
We are also interested in the role of these receptors in complex diseases such as autoimmunity and cancer. We have shown that the gene complex encoding some of the CLR receptors is linked to the susceptibility to develop autoimmune arthritis in a rat model, oil-induced arthritis. We are trying to understand how variation in genes for these receptors can affect autoimmune pathogenesis, and we are working to locate exactly which gene mediates the susceptibility to arthritis development.