Apoptosis of Dendritic Cells and Autoimmune Disease

Dendritic cells (DCs), the most efficient antigen-presenting cells (APCs), bridge the innate and adaptive immune systems. As such, the turn-over of DCs is critical during autoimmune responses, and the dysregulation of DC apoptosis could cause severe immune destruction in the host. For example, reduction of immunogenic DCs by increased apoptosis could lead to immune tolerance to pathogen infection that might allow exposure of nuclear autoantigens, whereas reduced apoptosis could result in long-term lymphocyte activation to break the immune tolerance for the development of autoimmune disease. Thus, keeping a balance between survival and apoptosis of DCs is crucial to maintain immune homeostasis. In this review, we summarize the recent development on the factors inducing DC apoptosis and their underlying mechanisms to provide insights into the immunopathogenesis of some autoimmune diseases, which could lead to effective therapeutic interventions in the clinics.