Consequences of space stressors on immunity: evaluation of immunological changes using space-simulated in vitro models.

The goal of this master thesis is to study changes in cellular immunity induced by simulated space conditions - in particular microgravity - on blood cell cultures taken from healthy male volunteers. The work will consist of evaluating the feasibility of the approach and optimizing the overall working protocol (e.g. sample handling, sample containers, antigen challenge and cytokine analysis). Cellular immune (dys)function will be monitored by means of the in vitro delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) test which includes stimulation of white blood cells with mitogens/antigens of bacterial, fungal and viral origin. The outcome of these tests will be assessed by determining the cytokine expression profile of the blood culture after up to 48h incubation with different stimuli. The following cytokines will be investigated: IL-2 (Th1, proinflammatory), IL-10 (Th2, anti-inflammatory), IFN-ã (Th1, pro-inflammatory) and TNF-á (Th1, pro-inflammatory) - mainly secreted by activated T lymphocytes - using two different detection techniques (Luminex, ELISA).