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Properties regulating the nature of the plasmacytoid dendritic cell response to Toll-like receptor 9 activation - Franck J. Barrat Ph.D.

August 7, 2006

Human plasmacytoid DCs (PDCs) represent a central cell type of the immune system (1, 2) that can participate to two of its critical activities. First, they can produce substantial amounts of type I IFN in response to a variety of pathogens, including viruses or parasites (3–6). PDC recognition of viruses is mediated primarily by recognition of the RNA or DNA genomes by toll-like receptors (TLR)7 and TLR9, respectively (1, 2). Second, after activation by viruses, cytokines, or CD40L, PDCs diff erentiate into DCs and initiate adaptive immune responses leading to CD4 and CD8 T cell activation (1, 2, 7).
The mechanisms governing these two functions, activation of the innate response refl ected by IFN-α production and of the adaptive response by increased costimulatory molecule expression and antigen presentation, are not clearly defi ned. This ability of PDCs to link the innate and adaptive immune response has many potential clinical applications. Clinical trials using synthetic TLR9 ligands, CpG-containing
immunostimulatory oligonucleotide sequences (ISS), are currently being conducted in allergy, asthma, cancer, and infectious diseases.


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Source: Alliance for Lupus Research
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