Vaccine strategies utilizing C-type lectin receptors on dendritic cells in vivo

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells capable of initiating and regulating innate and adaptive immunity. The development of effective ways to produce a large number of DCs in laboratories made the use of DCs available in various vaccine approaches. Compared to conventional vaccines, focused on protective antibody responses, DC vaccines emphasize protective T cell immunity but might elicit strong antibody responses as well. In addition, the recent discoveries of functionally distinct DC subsets in various organs and tissues are likely to increase the potential of exploiting DCs in vaccines and immunotherapy. Vaccines composed of DCs generated ex vivo, pulsed with antigens, and matured prior to being re-infused to the body have been widely tried clinically but resulted in limited success due to various obstacles. In this review, new approaches that protein vaccines are selectively targeted to the endocytic C-type lectin receptors on surface of DCs in vivo are discussed.