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Updated: May 26, 2026
An Efficient and High Yield Method for Isolation of Mouse Dendritic Cell Subsets
Published on: April 18, 2016
Dendritic cell-associated lectin 2 (DCAL2) defines a distinct CD8α- dendritic cell subset
Shinji Kasahara1, Edward A Clark
1Department of Immunology, University of Washington, 1959 N.E. Pacific St., Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Insights
DCAL2 (myeloid inhibitory C-type lectin/Clec12a) identifies a distinct CD8α- dendritic cell (DC) subset. These DCAL2+ DCs effectively induce Th1 immune responses, highlighting DCAL2 as a key marker for Th1-inducing DC populations.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Cell Biology
Background:
- C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) on dendritic cells (DCs) are crucial for immunity and exhibit subset-specific expression.
- Murine DCAL2 (myeloid inhibitory C-type lectin/Clec12a) is a type-II CLR possessing an ITIM motif.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role and expression of DCAL2 on dendritic cell subsets.
- To determine the functional capacity of DC subsets defined by DCAL2 expression in immune responses.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a mouse DCAL2-specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) for analysis.
- Characterized DC subsets based on DCAL2 and DCIR2 expression.
- Assessed Toll-like receptor (TLR) expression and cytokine production upon stimulation with various TLR ligands.
- Evaluated the capacity of DC subsets to induce Th1 and Th2 responses in vitro and in vivo.
Main Results:
- DCAL2 is expressed on antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and delineates CD8α- DCs into DCAL2+DCIR2- and DCAL2-DCIR2+ subpopulations.
- CD8α-DCAL2+ DCs produced robust IL-12 in response to CpG, while CD8α-DCIR2+ DCs produced TNF-α and IL-10 upon zymosan stimulation.
- CD8α-DCIR2+ DCs uniquely upregulated OX40L in response to flagellin.
- CD8α-DCAL2+ DCs efficiently induced Th1 responses, whereas CD8α-DCIR2+ DCs induced Th2 cells.
Conclusions:
- CD8α-DCAL2+ DCs represent a distinct subset capable of supporting Th1 immune responses.
- DCAL2 serves as a valuable marker for identifying Th1-inducing CD8α- dendritic cell populations.
Abstract:
CLRs on DCs play important roles in immunity and are expressed selectively on certain DC subsets. Murine DCAL2 (myeloid inhibitory C-type lectin/Clec12a) is a type-II CLR with an ITIM. Using a mouse DCAL2-specific mAb, we found that DCAL2 is expressed at relatively high levels on APCs and that DCAL2 expression can be used to divide CD8α- DCs into DCAL2+DCIR2- and DCAL2-DCIR2+ subpopulations. CD8α-DCAL2+ DC, CD8α-DCIR2+ DC, and CD8α+DCAL2+ DC subsets each express different levels of TLRs and respond to unique classes of TLR ligands by producing distinct sets of cytokines. Whereas CD8α-DCAL2+ DCs robustly produce cytokines, including IL-12, in response to CpG, CD8α-DCIR2+ DCs produce only TNF-α and IL-10 in modest amounts when stimulated with zymosan. However, CD8α-DCIR2+DCs, unlike the other DC subsets, strongly up-regulate OX40L when stimulated with bacterial flagellin. As predicted from their cytokine expression, CD8α-DCAL2+ DCs efficiently induced Th1 responses in the presence of CpG in vitro and in vivo, whereas CD8α-DCIR2+ DCs induced Th2 cells in response to flagellin. Thus, CD8α-DCAL2+ DCs comprise a distinct CD8α- DC subset capable of supporting Th1 responses. DCAL2 is a useful marker to identify a Th1-inducing CD8α- DC population.
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