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Positive and negative regulation of the myeloid dendritic cell lineage

F Santiago-Schwarz1

  • 1Division of Rheumatology, Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, New York 11501, USA. fschwarz@winthrop.org

Recent advances have revealed that dendritic cells (DCs) are not a single cell type, but a system of cells that are phenotypically and functionally diverse. DC subtypes stemming from the myeloid and lymphoid lineages promote a diversity of immune responses ranging from the stimulation of naive T and B cell responses to the down-regulation of T cell responses. Although differences in antigen handling are linked to DC developmental stages in the myeloid DC lineage, the particular type of immune response elicited may be determined by a specific DC subtype. This review summarizes key regulatory mechanisms controlling the development of myeloid lineage DCs from multipotent progenitors. Emphasis is placed on describing a highly orchestrated series of proliferative, apoptotic, and developmental events involving granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, transforming growth factor beta, and the tumor necrosis factor alpha, CD95, and bcl-2 protein families.

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