Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 2, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of Dendritic Cells and Macrophages from the Mouse Intestine
Published on: May 21, 2012
Osteopontin expression by CD103- dendritic cells drives intestinal inflammation
Evangelia Kourepini1, Maria Aggelakopoulou, Themis Alissafi
1Laboratory of Cellular Immunology, Center for Basic Research I, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece.
Osteopontin (Opn) produced by intestinal CD103(-) dendritic cells (DCs) drives colitis. Targeting Opn or its interaction with integrin α9 may offer new therapies for inflammatory bowel disease.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Gastroenterology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Intestinal CD103(-) dendritic cells (DCs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of colitis.
- Understanding the molecular mechanisms driving DC inflammation is crucial for developing targeted immunotherapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of osteopontin (Opn) in the proinflammatory function of intestinal CD103(-) DCs during experimental colitis.
- To identify therapeutic strategies targeting Opn-mediated inflammation in IBD.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of Opn expression in mesenteric lymph node CD103(-) DCs during experimental colitis.
- Adoptive transfer of Opn-deficient and Opn-overexpressing CD103(-) DCs.
- In vivo neutralization of Opn and in vitro/in vivo disruption of Opn-integrin α9 interaction.
Main Results:
- CD103(-) DCs express high levels of Opn during experimental colitis, which is critical for their pathogenicity and induction of T helper 1 (Th1) and T helper 17 (Th17) responses.
- Opn deficiency or neutralization attenuated colitis, while Opn overexpression exacerbated it.
- Disrupting the interaction between Opn and integrin α9 on CD103(-) DCs suppressed their inflammatory potential.
Conclusions:
- Osteopontin is a key mediator of CD103(-) DC pathogenicity in experimental colitis.
- Targeting the Opn-integrin α9 axis presents a potential therapeutic strategy for inflammatory bowel disease.
More Related Videos
06:57Development of an Antigen-driven Colitis Model to Study Presentation of Antigens by Antigen Presenting Cells to T Cells
Published on: September 18, 2016
08:37Induction of Murine Intestinal Inflammation by Adoptive Transfer of Effector CD4+CD45RBhigh T Cells into Immunodeficient Mice
Published on: April 21, 2015
Related Concept Videos
Inflammatory Bowel Disease III: Crohn's Disease
Role Of Notch Signalling In Intestinal Stem Cell Renewal
Direct cell-to-cell contact is needed for the activation of Notch signaling. The signal is initiated when a notch ligand binds to a receptor on an adjacent cell, also...
Inflammatory Bowel Disease II: Ulcerative Colitis
Renewal of Intestinal Stem Cells
Role of Ephrin-Eph Signalling in Intestinal Stem Cell Renewal
Inflammatory Bowel Disease I: Introduction