Dendritic Cell-T-Cell Circuitry in Health and Changes in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Its Treatment

摘要

BackgroundDendritic, antigen-presenting cells (DCs) determine not only whether lymphocytes produce different types of immune response but also tissue-homing profiles of lymphocytes they stimulate. For example, in health, mucosal DC stimulate T cells focused to home to the mucosa; DC/T-cell circuitry thus targets immune responses to specific tissue locations. Therapies being introduced for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) include antibodies to gut-homing molecules such as α4β7 (Vedolizumab) used ostensibly to block gut-homing lymphocytes. However, such lymphocytes are dependent on the tissue specificity of DC that stimulated them.