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Taking dendritic cells into medicine

Nature volume 449, pages 419–426 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) orchestrate a repertoire of immune responses that bring about resistance to infection and silencing or tolerance to self. In the settings of infection and cancer, microbes and tumours can exploit DCs to evade immunity, but DCs also can generate resistance, a capacity that is readily enhanced with DC-targeted vaccines. During allergy, autoimmunity and transplant rejection, DCs instigate unwanted responses that cause disease, but, again, DCs can be harnessed to silence these conditions with novel therapies. Here we present some medical implications of DC biology that account for illness and provide opportunities for prevention and therapy.

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Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3: DC localization in T-cell areas of immune organs such as lymph nodes, as shown here.
Figure 4

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank C. Moberg and M. Nussenzweig for extensive comments and J. Adams for assistance with the manuscript. We are grateful to our patients and colleagues, for their many contributions, and to the NIH and several foundations for support. A version of the review with a more complete bibliography is published on the authors’ websites: http://www.biir.org and http://www.rockefeller.edu/labheads/steinman/generalReviews.php.

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  1. The Rockefeller University, New York 10065, USA

    Ralph M. Steinman

  2. Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, Dallas, Texas 75204, USA,

    Jacques Banchereau

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Correspondence to Ralph M. Steinman.

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R.M.S is on the scientific advisory board of Celldex and Argos Therapeutics, which both design dendritic-cell-based vaccines; J.B. has stock options of Argos Therapeutics and ODC Therapy, which both focus on dendritic cells.

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Steinman, R., Banchereau, J. Taking dendritic cells into medicine. Nature 449, 419–426 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06175

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