Dysregulated circulating dendritic cell function in ulcerative colitis is partially restored by probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota
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Updated: May 8, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of Dendritic Cells and Macrophages from the Mouse Intestine
Published on: May 21, 2012
Elizabeth R Mann1, Jialu You, Verena Horneffer-van der Sluis
1Antigen Presentation Research Group, Imperial College London, Northwick Park and St. Mark's Campus, Level 7W St. Mark's Hospital, Watford Road, Harrow HA1 3UJ, UK.
Background:
Dendritic cells regulate immune responses to microbial products and play a key role in ulcerative colitis (UC) pathology. We determined the immunomodulatory effects of probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) on human DC from healthy controls and active UC patients.
Methods:
Human blood DC from healthy controls (control-DC) and UC patients (UC-DC) were conditioned with heat-killed LcS and used to stimulate allogeneic T cells in a 5-day mixed leucocyte reaction.
Results:
UC-DC displayed a reduced stimulatory capacity for T cells (P < 0.05) and enhanced expression of skin-homing markers CLA and CCR4 on stimulated T cells (P < 0.05) that were negative for gut-homing marker β7. LcS treatment restored the stimulatory capacity of UC-DC, reflecting that of control-DC. LcS treatment conditioned control-DC to induce CLA on T cells in conjunction with β7, generating a multihoming profile, but had no effects on UC-DC. Finally, LcS treatment enhanced DC ability to induce TGFβ production by T cells in controls but not UC patients.
Conclusions:
We demonstrate a systemic, dysregulated DC function in UC that may account for the propensity of UC patients to develop cutaneous manifestations. LcS has multifunctional immunoregulatory activities depending on the inflammatory state; therapeutic effects reported in UC may be due to promotion of homeostasis.
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