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Updated: Sep 26, 2026

Accessing Early Differentiation of Virus-Specific Follicular Helper CD4+ T Cell in Acute LCMV-Infected Mice
Published on: April 26, 2024
Dendritic cell responses to early murine cytomegalovirus infection: subset functional specialization and differential
Marc Dalod1, Tanya Hamilton, Rachelle Salomon
1Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Division of Biology and Medicine, Box G-B629, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. Christine_Biron@Brown.edu
Abstract:
Differentiation of dendritic cells (DCs) into particular subsets may act to shape innate and adaptive immune responses, but little is known about how this occurs during infections. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDCs) are major producers of interferon (IFN)-alpha/beta in response to many viruses. Here, the functions of these and other splenic DC subsets are further analyzed after in vivo infection with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV). Viral challenge induced PDC maturation, their production of high levels of innate cytokines, and their ability to activate natural killer (NK) cells. The conditions also licensed PDCs to efficiently activate CD8 T cells in vitro. Non-plasmacytoid DCs induced T lymphocyte activation in vitro. As MCMV preferentially infected CD8alpha+ DCs, however, restricted access to antigens may limit plasmacytoid and CD11b+ DC contribution to CD8 T cell activation. IFN-alpha/beta regulated multiple DC responses, limiting viral replication in all DC and IL-12 production especially in the CD11b+ subset but promoting PDC accumulation and CD8alpha+ DC maturation. Thus, during defense against a viral infection, PDCs appear specialized for initiation of innate, and as a result of their production of IFN-alpha/beta, regulate other DCs for induction of adaptive immunity. Therefore, they may orchestrate the DC subsets to shape endogenous immune responses to viruses.
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