Organ-dependent in vivo priming of naive CD4+,but not CD8+,T cells by plasmacytoid dendritic cells

A Sapoznikov, JAA Fischer, T Zaft… - The Journal of …, 2007 - rupress.org
A Sapoznikov, JAA Fischer, T Zaft, R Krauthgamer, A Dzionek, S Jung
The Journal of experimental medicine, 2007rupress.org
Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDCs) play a pivotal role as cytokine-secreting accessory cells
in the antimicrobial immune defense. In contrast, the capacity of PDCs to act as antigen-
presenting cells in naive T cell priming remains unclear. By studying T cell responses in
mice that lack conventional DCs (cDCs), and by the use of a PDC-specific antigen-targeting
strategy, we show that PDCs can initiate productive naive CD4+ T cell responses in lymph
nodes, but not in the spleen. PDC-triggered CD4+ T cell responses differed from cDC-driven …
Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDCs) play a pivotal role as cytokine-secreting accessory cells in the antimicrobial immune defense. In contrast, the capacity of PDCs to act as antigen-presenting cells in naive T cell priming remains unclear. By studying T cell responses in mice that lack conventional DCs (cDCs), and by the use of a PDC-specific antigen-targeting strategy, we show that PDCs can initiate productive naive CD4+ T cell responses in lymph nodes, but not in the spleen. PDC-triggered CD4+ T cell responses differed from cDC-driven responses in that they were not associated with concomitant CD8+ T cell priming. Our results establish PDCs as a bona fide DC subset that initiates unique CD4+ Th cell–dominated primary immune responses.
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