The receptor tyrosine kinase Flt3 is required for dendritic cell development in peripheral lymphoid tissues.
Dendritic cell (DC) development begins in the bone marrow but is not completed until after immature progenitors reach their sites of residence in lymphoid organs. The hematopoietic growth factors regulating these processes are poorly understood. Here we examined the effects of signaling by the receptor tyrosine kinase Flt3 on macrophage DC progenitors in the bone marrow and on peripheral DCs. We found that the macrophage DC progenitor compartment was responsive to superphysiological amounts of Flt3 ligand but was not dependent on Flt3 for its homeostatic maintenance in vivo. In contrast, Flt3 was essential to the regulation of homeostatic DC development in the spleen, where it was needed to maintain normal numbers of DCs by controlling their division in the periphery.
Waskow
Claudia
C
Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA. claudia.waskow@crt-dresden.de
Liu
Kang
K
Darrasse-Jèze
Guillaume
G
Guermonprez
Pierre
P
Ginhoux
Florent
F
Merad
Miriam
M
Shengelia
Tamara
T
Yao
Kaihui
K
Nussenzweig
Michel
M
D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology; D017635:Clonal Anergy / Q000276:immunology; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D008221:Lymphoid Tissue / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000276:immunology*
D008565:Membrane Proteins; C084881:flt3 ligand protein; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases