Inducible IL-2 production by dendritic cells revealed by global gene expression analysis.
Dendritic cells (DCs) are strong activators of primary T cell responses. Their priming ability is acquired upon encounter with maturation stimuli. To identify the genes that are differentially expressed upon maturation induced by exposure to Gram-negative bacteria, a kinetic study of DC gene expression was done with microarrays representing 11,000 genes and ESTs (expressed sequence tags). Approximately 3000 differentially expressed transcripts were identified. We found that functional interleukin 2 (IL-2) mRNA, which gave rise to IL-2 production, was transiently up-regulated at early time-points after bacterial encounter. In contrast, macrophages did not produce IL-2 upon bacterial stimulation. Thus, IL-2 is an additional key cytokine that confers unique T cell stimulatory capacity to DCs.
Granucci
F
F
University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology and Bioscience, Piazza della Scienza 2, Milan, Italy.
Vizzardelli
C
C
Pavelka
N
N
Feau
S
S
Persico
M
M
Virzi
E
E
Rescigno
M
M
Moro
G
G
Ricciardi-Castagnoli
P
P
D000818:Animals; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000254:growth & development; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000276:immunology; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D007700:Kinetics; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
D007376:Interleukin-2; D012333:RNA, Messenger