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A recently described type 2 conventional dendritic cell (cDC2) subset mediates inflammation

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 17, pages 1215–1217 (2020)Cite this article

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In 1973, Dr. Ralph Steinman first described a new cell type with a tree-like shape in the immune system and named it a “dendritic cell” (DC). Following this discovery, numerous studies confirmed the key role of DCs as antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in controlling immune responses, and then, Dr. Steinman won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2011.1 When we have greater understanding of DC biology, more DC knowledge will be applied in medicine. DC-based therapies have been developed to treat various diseases, and DC vaccines for cancer therapy are the most prominent. In contrast to enhancing immunity, another type of DC vaccine is used to ameliorate autoimmune diseases and is called a “tolerogenic DC” vaccine.2 These discoveries suggest a “ying-yang” regulation of DCs in immune homeostasis. One theory is that DC precursors can differentiate into specialized subsets to initiate various immune responses. However, it is also possible that one DC subset may exert different functions based on external factors.

Single-cell technologies have been developed for extensively studying cell development, and they include multicolor flow cytometry, cytometry by time of flight, and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq).5 Recently, the Lambrecht group at Ghent University reported in Immunity that a dominant DC population has great potential to migrate to draining lymph nodes (LNs) and prime CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses to viral infection. This group called these cells inflammatory cDC2s (inf-cDC2s) because they express CD172a and CD11b; however, inf-cDC2s also express the Fc receptor CD64 and IRF8, similar to moDCs and cDC1s, respectively. In addition, this group found that Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands and type 1 IFN induce the maturation of inf-cDC2s in an IRF8-dependent manner. Using other inflammatory disease models, the group also detected the accumulation of inf-cDC2s in other LNs, suggesting that inf-cDC2 represents a general APC in immune responses. Thus, inf-cDC2 likely becomes a new cDC2 subset during inflammation.6

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Jenn-Yeu Shin, Chen-Yu Wang

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Immunology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, China

    Jenn-Yeu Shin, Chen-Yu Wang & Ching-Liang Chu

  2. Institute of Biomedical Sciences, National Chung Hsin University, Taichung, China

    Chi-Chien Lin

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  1. Jenn-Yeu Shin
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  2. Chen-Yu Wang
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  4. Ching-Liang Chu
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Correspondence to Ching-Liang Chu.

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Shin, JY., Wang, CY., Lin, CC. et al. A recently described type 2 conventional dendritic cell (cDC2) subset mediates inflammation. Cell Mol Immunol 17, 1215–1217 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-020-0511-y

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