Abstracts (complete list) - Wissenschaft Online

Anja Saalbach, Claudia Klein, Ulf Anderegg, Jan C. Simon
Dermal fibroblasts induce maturation of dendritic cells
To trigger an effective T cell-mediated immune response in the skin, dendritic cells (DC)
migrate into locally-draining lymph nodes where they present antigen to naive T cells.
During their migration to secondary lymphoid organs, DC have to travel through the
stromal microenvironment comprised of the extracellular matrix and stromal cells such
as fibroblasts, macrophages and endothelial cells. Little is known about the interaction
of DC with these various cellular microenvironments. Here, we show that DC are located
in close proximity to stromal fibroblasts in inflamed skin. In accordance, a Thy-1- and
ICAM-1-dependent adhesion of DC to fibroblast could be detected in vitro. Co-culture
experiments demonstrate that fibroblasts are effective in inducing both phenotypic and
functional maturation of DC in a TNF alpha dependent manner. The resulting fibroblastmatured
DC are able to support T cell driven immune responses reflected by CD25
expression and enhanced T cell proliferation [1]. Together these data demonstrate that
dermal fibroblast which DC can encounter during their trafficking from skin to lymph
node may act as potent regulators of DC differentiation and function, and thus may
actively participate in the regulation and outcome of DC-driven cutaneous immune
responses.
[1]Saalbach et al.; J Immunol, 2007, 178: 4966–4974.