Dendritic cells are an impotant part of the immune system and also important for connecting the adaptive with the innate immune system. They are so-called antigen presenting cells, have the ability to take up pathogens and present fragments of them to CD4+ t cells on the MHC-II-molecule.
Dendritic cells stem from different progenitors. One class arise from myeloid the other from lymphoid progenitors. There are different subtypes of each class which have different skills.
There are two different main subgroups of dendritic cells descending from different progenitors. CMP (common myeloid progenitors) and CLP (common lymphoid progenitors) and are located in different parts of the body. The CMP are located in the bone marrow whereas CLP are in the lymphoid organs.
Different Subtypes arise from these progenitors with different abilities. CMP can differentiate to interstitial DC or to Langerhans DC, wheras plasmacytoid DC arise from CLP. It is common that monocytes can differentiate to monocyte-derived DC when monocytes are stimulated with GM-CSF and IL-4.
The different subtypes are characterized by different surface molecules and receptors. They define the different tasks of each subtypes and the localisation in the body.
In the next Blog I will discuss the different tasks of the different subtypes considering the different surface molecules and their interaction within the tissue.
- Murphy K. et al. Janeway’s Immunobiology 7th Edition, Garland Science Publisher
- Ken Shortman and Yong-Jun Liu. Mouse and Human Dendritic Cell Subtypes. Nature Review Immunology 151-161 (2002)
