Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 103, Issue 28, Pages 10729-10734Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0601956103
Keywords
antigen presentation; mice; endocytosis; ovalbumin; vaccines
Categories
Funding
- Wellcome Trust Funding Source: Medline
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Mouse spleens contain three populations of conventional (CD11c(high)) dendritic cells (DCs) that play distinct functions. The CID8(+) DC are unique in that they can present exogenous antigens on their MIHC class I molecules, a process known as cross-presentation. It is unclear whether this special ability is because only the CD8(+) DC can capture the antigens used in cross-presentation assays, or because this is the only DC population that possesses specialized machinery for cross-presentation. To solve this important question we examined the splenic DC subsets for their ability to both present via MHC class II molecules and cross-present via MHC class I using four different forms of the model antigen ovalbumin (OVA). These forms include a cell-associated form, a soluble form, OVA expressed in bacteria, or OVA bound to latex beads. With the exception of bacterial antigen, which was poorly cross-presented by all DC, all antigenic forms were cross-presented much more efficiently by the CD8+ DC. This pattern could not be attributed simply to a difference in antigen capture because all DC subsets presented the antigen via MIHC class II. Indeed, direct assessments of endocytosis showed that CD8(+) and CD8(-) DC captured comparable amounts of soluble and bead-associated antigen, yet only the CD8+ DC cross-presented these antigenic forms. Our results indicate that cross-presentation requires specialized machinery that is expressed by CD8+ DC but largely absent from CD8(-) DC. This conclusion has important implications for the design of vaccination strategies based on antigen targeting to DC.
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