Cytokine-dependent regulation of dendritic cell differentiation in the splenic microenvironment

The DC-derived chemokine CCL17, a ligand of CCR4, has been shown to promote various inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis, atherosclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Under steady-state conditions, and even after systemic stimulation with LPS, CCL17 is not expressed in resident splenic DCs as opposed to CD8α⁻CD11b⁺ LN DCs, which produce large amounts of CCL17 in particular after maturation. Upon systemic NKT cell activation through α-galactosylceramide stimulation however, CCL17 can be upregulated in both CD8α⁻ and CD8α⁺ splenic DC subsets and enhances cross-presentation of exogenous antigens. Based on genome-wide expression profiling, we now show that splenic CD11b⁺ DCs are susceptible to IFN-γ-mediated suppression of CCL17, whereas LN CD11b⁺CCL17⁺ DCs downregulate the IFN-γR and are much less responsive to IFN-γ. Under inflammatory conditions, particularly in the absence of IFN-γ signaling in IFN-γRKO mice, CCL17 expression is strongly induced in a major proportion of splenic DCs by the action of GM-CSF in concert with IL-4. Our findings demonstrate that the local cytokine milieu and differential cytokine responsiveness of DC subsets regulate lymphoid organ specific immune responses at the level of chemokine expression.