Wang XB, Fan ZZ, Anton D, Vollenhoven AV, Ni ZH, Chen XF, Lefvert AK. CTLA4 is expressed on mature dendritic cells derived from human monocytes and influences their maturation and antigen presentation.
BMC Immunol 2011;
12:21. [PMID:
21414236 PMCID:
PMC3070687 DOI:
10.1186/1471-2172-12-21]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2010] [Accepted: 03/18/2011] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
Dendritic cells (DCs) initiate immune responses through their direct interaction with effector cells. However, the mechanism by which DC activity is regulated is not well defined. Previous studies have shown that CTLA4 on T cells regulates DCs function by "cross-talk". We investigated whether there is an intrinsic regulatory mechanism in DCs, with CTLA4 as a candidate regulator.
Results
We confirmed via RT-PCR and flow cytometry the natural expression of CTLA4 on mature DCs derived from human monocytes. Approximately 8% CD1a-positive cells express CTLA4 both on surface and intracellular, whereas 10% CD1a-negative cells express CTLA4 intracellularly, but little expression was observed on the cell surface. The cross-linking of CTLA4 inhibits DCs maturation and antigen presentation in vitro, but does not inhibit endocytosis.
Conclusions
CTLA4 is expressed by DCs and plays an inhibitory role. CTLA4-expressing DCs may represent a group of regulatory DCs. Because of its wide distribution on different cell types, CTLA4 may play a general role in regulating immune responses.
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