Antigen-specific T lymphocytes regulate lipopolysaccharide-induced apoptosis of dendritic cells in vivo.
The potent accessory properties of dendritic cells (DC) develop sequentially during a process termed "maturation." Splenic DC undergo functional maturation in vivo in response to the bacterial product LPS and migrate from the marginal zone to the T cell areas. The redistribution of fully mature DC, which present Ags encountered in the periphery, in the T cell area is likely to result in T cell priming. Unexpectedly, we found that DC rapidly die by apoptosis once they have entered the T cell zone. Injection of OVA peptide in OVA-specific, TCR-transgenic mice strongly delays the LPS-induced apoptosis of DC in situ. We conclude that mature DC are programmed to die unless they receive a survival signal from T cells and that the regulation of DC survival may be a mechanism aimed at controlling the initiation and the termination of the immune response.
De Smedt
T
T
Département de Biologie Moléculaire, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium.
Pajak
B
B
Klaus
G G
GG
Noelle
R J
RJ
Urbain
J
J
Leo
O
O
Moser
M
M
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000276:immunology*; D002450:Cell Communication; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000276:immunology; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D010047:Ovalbumin