Review

Nature Reviews Immunology 4, 24-35 (January 2004) | doi:10.1038/nri1256

Dendritic cells: emerging pharmacological targets of immunosuppressive drugs

Holger Hackstein1 & Angus W. Thomson2  About the authors

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Immunosuppressive drugs have revolutionized organ transplantation and improved the therapeutic management of autoimmune diseases. The development of immunosuppressive drugs and understanding of their action traditionally has been focused on lymphocytes, but recent evidence indicates that these agents interfere with immune responses at the earliest stage, targeting key functions of dendritic cells (DCs). Here, we review our present understanding of how classical and new immunosuppressive agents interfere with DC development and function. This knowledge might provide a rational basis for the selection of immunosuppressive drugs in different clinical settings and for the generation of tolerogenic DCs in the laboratory.

Author affiliations

  1. Institute for Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Langhansstr. 7, D-35392 Giessen, Germany.
  2. Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute and Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh, 200 Lothrop Street Biomedical Science Tower W1544, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.

Correspondence to: Holger Hackstein1 Email: holger.hackstein@immunologie.med.uni-giessen.de

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