Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Study of Dendritic Cell Development by Short Hairpin RNA-Mediated Gene Knockdown in a Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Line In vitro
Published on: March 7, 2022
The divergence and interplay between pDC and mDC in humans
1Department of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin Kawara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. kadowaki@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
Induction of appropriate types of innate and adaptive immune responses depending on the nature of antigens is crucial to cope with a variety of pathogens and concurrently to avoid pathological reaction to self antigens. Recent studies have been elucidating that the diversity of immune responses is critically controlled by dendritic cells (DCs). Two DC subsets have been identified in humans: myeloid DCs (mDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs). The DC subsets recognize different microbial pathogens by expressing distinct repertoires of Toll-like receptors, and induce different types of innate and adaptive immune responses depending on environmental factors. Particularly, pDC precursors produce vast amounts of type I interferons in response to viruses and thus play an important role in anti-viral immunity. In addition, type I interferons derived from pDCs are instrumental in activating mDCs. Elucidating cellular and molecular mechanisms by which functions of the two DC subsets are modulated will lead to understanding the pathogenesis of various immune-related diseases and to developing novel immunological therapies.
Related Concept Videos
Synteny and Evolution
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral chromosome underwent...
M-Cdk Drives Transition Into Mitosis
Cyclin-dependent kinases, or Cdks, work in concert with cyclins to control cell cycle transitions. M-Cdk, a complex of Cdk1 bound to M cyclin, is a well-known example of this coordinated control that drives the transition from the G2 to the M phase.
M cyclin...
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon has three reading...
Interactions Between Signaling Pathways
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
Two distinct signaling pathways can converge on a single functional unit, which may either be a single protein or a complex of proteins. The response is either functionally distinct or synergistic between the two pathways but different from the response...
Gene Duplication and Divergence
The duplicated copies of the gene are called Paralogs. Paralogs with similar sequences and functions form a gene family. Across several species, a large number of gene families are characterized.
Abnormal Proliferation

