Cutting Edge: Expression of XCR1 Defines Mouse Lymphoid-Tissue Resident and Migratory Dendritic Cells of the CD8α+ Type

Subsets of dendritic cells (DCs) have been described according to their functions and anatomical locations. Conventional DC subsets are defined by reciprocal expression of CD11b and CD8 alpha in lymphoid tissues (LT), and of CD11b and CD103 in non-LT (NLT). Spleen CD8 alpha(+) and dermal CD103(+) DCs share a high efficiency for Ag cross-presentation and a developmental dependency on specific transcription factors. However, it is not known whether all NLT-derived CD103(+) DCs and LT-resident CD8 alpha(+) DCs are similar despite their different anatomical locations. XCR1 was previously described as exclusively expressed on mouse spleen CD8 alpha(+) DCs and human blood BDCA3(+) DCs. In this article, we showed that LT-resident CD8 alpha(+) DCs and NLT-derived CD103(+) DCs specifically express XCR1 and are characterized by a unique transcriptional fingerprint, irrespective of their tissue of origin. Therefore, CD8 alpha(+) DCs and CD103(+) DCs belong to a common DC subset which is unequivocally identified by XCR1 expression throughout the body. The Journal of Immunology, 2011, 187: 4411-4415.