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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Assessing the Innate Sensing of HIV-1 Infected CD4+ T Cells by Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Using an Ex vivo Co-culture System.
Published on: September 1, 2015
DC-SIGN, a dentritic cell-specific HIV-1 receptor present in placenta that infects T cells in trans-a review
T B Geijtenbeek1, S J van Vliet, G C van Duijnhoven
1Department of Tumor Immunology, University Medical Center St Radboud, Philips van Leydenlaan 25, Nijmegen, 6525 EX, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Dendritic cells (DC) capture micro-organisms that enter peripheral mucosal tissues and then migrate to secondary lymphoid organs, where they present in antigenic form to resting T cells and thus initiate adaptive immune responses. Here we describe the properties of a DC-specific C-type lectin, DC-SIGN, that is highly expressed on DC present in mucosal tissues and binds to the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120. DC-SIGN does not function as a receptor for viral entry into DC, but instead promotes efficient infection in trans of cells that express CD4 and chemokine receptors. The interaction of DC-SIGN with HIV gp120 may be an important target for therapeutic intervention and vaccine development.
