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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

An Efficient and High Yield Method for Isolation of Mouse Dendritic Cell Subsets
Published on: April 18, 2016
Dendritic cell (DC)-specific intercellular adhesion molecule 3 (ICAM-3)-grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN, CD209), a
María Colmenares1, Amaya Puig-Kröger, Oscar Muñiz Pello
1Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Velázquez 144, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
Dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in the initiation of the immunological response against Leishmania parasites. However, the receptors involved in amastigote-dendritic cell interaction are unknown, especially in absence of opsonizing antibodies. We have studied the interaction of Leishmania pifanoi axenic amastigotes with the C-type lectin DC-specific intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-3-grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN, CD209), a receptor for ICAM-2, ICAM-3, human immunodeficiency virus gp120, and Ebola virus. L. pifanoi amastigotes interact with immature human dendritic cells and CD209-transfected K562 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Leishmania amastigote binding to human dendritic cells and DC-SIGN-transfected cells is inhibited by a function-blocking DC-SIGN-specific monoclonal antibody. More importantly, this monoclonal antibody dramatically reduces internalization of Leishmania amastigotes by immature human DCs. These results constitute the first description of a nonviral pathogen ligand for DC-SIGN and provide evidence for a relevant role of DC-SIGN in Leishmania amastigote uptake by dendritic cells. Our finding has important implications for Leishmania host-cell interaction and the immunoregulation of cutaneous leishmaniasis.
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