Cross-priming is under control of the relB gene

Cross-priming is an important mechanism of intercell transfer of antigenic material leading to the specific activation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Dendritic cells (DCs) are considered the central antigen-presenting cell in cross-priming. Here we decided to probe the role of the relB gene, a regulator of DC differentiation, in the in vivo cross-priming of a model tumour antigen, TAP(-/-) murine embryo cells (MEC), expressing human adenovirus type 5 early region 1. To this end, we used relB(-/-) mutant mice to generate bone marrow (BM) chimeras as these possess few residual DC but are capable of initiating CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses in vivo. Our results show that relB(-/-) BM chimeras are unable to cross-prime CD8+ T cells, suggesting that the relB gene regulates cross-priming.