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Dendritic cells: emerging pharmacological targets of immunosuppressive drugs

Holger Hackstein1, Angus W Thomson

  • 1Institute for Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Langhansstr. 7, D-35392 Giessen, Germany. holger.hackstein@immunologie.med.uni-giessen.de

Nature Reviews. Immunology
|January 6, 2004
PubMed

Immunosuppressive drugs have revolutionized organ transplantation and improved the therapeutic management of autoimmune diseases. The development of immunosuppressive drugs and understanding of their action traditionally has been focused on lymphocytes, but recent evidence indicates that these agents interfere with immune responses at the earliest stage, targeting key functions of dendritic cells (DCs). Here, we review our present understanding of how classical and new immunosuppressive agents interfere with DC development and function. This knowledge might provide a rational basis for the selection of immunosuppressive drugs in different clinical settings and for the generation of tolerogenic DCs in the laboratory.

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