Authors:
Rate A; Bosco A; McKenna KL; Holt PG; Upham JW
Authors notes:
PLoS ONE. 2012;7(9):e44941.1-10
Keywords:
Immune surveillance, Dendritic cells, Airway epithelial cells, Inflammation, Microarray
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that crosstalk between airway epithelial cells (AEC) and adjacent dendritic cells (DC) tightly regulates airway mucosal DC function in steady state.
AEC are known to express multiple immmuno-modulatory factors, though detailed information on how this influences human DC function remains incomplete.
We recently demonstrated using an in vitro coculture model that AEC alter differentiation of monocytes into DC in a manner that inhibits expression of potentially damaging Th2 effector function.
In the current study, we have extended these findings to examine other aspects of DC function.
Using micro-array technology we show that multiple genes important for immune surveillance are significantly over expressed in purified AEC-conditioned DC, compared to control DC.
In particular, AEC-conditioned DC showed selective upregulation of chemokines that recruit Th1 cells, but minimal change in chemokines linked to Th2 cell recruitment.
These findings suggest that AEC conditioning facilitates the capacity of DC to react to danger signals, to enhance leukocyte recruitment, especially of Th1 effector cells, and to interact with other immune cell populations while minimizing the risks of excessive inflammation leading to tissue damage