Intestinal CD103+ dendritic cells (DCs) that can metabolize vitamin A into retinoic acid induce expression of the gut-homing receptors integrin α4β7 and CCR9 on T cells after being activated. In the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Ruane et al. show that lung DCs can also 'imprint' the expression of gut-homing receptors in T cells and 'license' them to migrate to the gut. Both CD103+CD11b− and CD11b+CD103− lung DCs express aldehyde dehydrogenase and induce the expression of CCR9 and α4β7 on proliferating T cells in a manner dependent on signaling via the retinoic acid receptor, with lung CD11b+ DCs being more effective than lung CD103+ DCs. Intranasal delivery of antigen induces α4β7 expression in T cells activated in the mediastinal lymph nodes, whereas subcutaneous immunization does not confer gut-homing tropism to T cells. In in vivo models of infection with pathogenic Salmonella, intranasal immunization extends survival and averts systemic pathology.
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Visan, I. From lung to gut. Nat Immunol 14, 1036 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2725
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2725