title: Dendritic cells and immune regulation in the liver.
abstract: Hepatic dendritic cells (DC) unquestionably play important roles in the induction and regulation of immune responses. Due to their paucity, functional characterisation of these important antigen presenting cells has been slow but use of DC growth factors (in particular GM-CSF and Flt3L) that markedly enhance their numbers has proved helpful in furnishing adequate study material. While there is growing evidence that DC function is affected in the pathogenesis of liver disease, most work to date has been performed on non-hepatic DC. Increasing knowledge of hepatic DC biology is likely to improve our understanding of disease pathogenesis and resistance to and therapy of liver disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Thomson
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000276:immunology; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000276:immunology; D002452:Cell Count; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000276:immunology; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000276:immunology; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000276:immunology; D008196:Lymph / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D008221:Lymphoid Tissue / Q000276:immunology; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000276:immunology; D010641:Phenotype; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta