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Dendritic cells in a mature age

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 6, pages 476–483 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

A common view supposes that dendritic cells (DCs) exist in two basic functional states: immature DCs induce tolerance to self, whereas mature DCs induce immunity to foreign antigens. However, the term 'mature' is often used not only functionally to designate immunogenic DCs but also as a phenotypic description of DCs expressing high levels of MHC, adhesion and co-stimulatory molecules. The recent realization that DCs can express such markers under non-immunogenic conditions raises the question of whether the two connotations of the term 'mature' should continue to be used interchangeably. Here, I discuss the origins of the maturation model and how terminology is evolving to better accommodate our current understanding of the function of DCs.

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Figure 1: The classical dendritic-cell-maturation paradigm.
Figure 2: Models of dendritic-cell maturation and the induction of different T-helper-cell fates.
Figure 3: A dendritic-cell-maturation model and the induction of tolerance.
Figure 4: Dendritic-cell effector function.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank K. Rowan for secretarial assistance. I am very grateful to M. Albert, S. Amigorena, W. Heath, M. Robertson, R. Steinman and members of my laboratory for discussions and critical review of earlier drafts of the manuscript. My expressions of gratitude should not be construed to mean that any of the named individuals concur with any of the views expressed in this Essay, which remains a personal and therefore biased opinion. I apologize to those colleagues whose work I have failed to cite, either through ignorance or space restrictions.

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  1. the Immunobiology Laboratory, Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, Lincoln's Inn Fields Laboratories, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PX, UK

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Reis e Sousa, C. Dendritic cells in a mature age. Nat Rev Immunol 6, 476–483 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri1845

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