Abstracts (complete list) - Wissenschaft Online

Natalia Zietara, Marcin Lyszkiewicz, Stefan Lienenklaus, Siegfried Weiss
"Lack of IFN-β impairs antigen presentation capacity of
splenic dendritic cells"
Type I interferons (I IFNs) constitute a highly pleiotropic, large cytokine family
composed of a single IFN-β and multiple IFN-α. Thus far, type I IFNs are best known for
their role in protection against viral infections. However in recent years these cytokines
have also been shown to have multiple immunomodulatory functions and therefore play
important role in other diseases including bacterial infections as well as under
autoimmune conditions.
The present study was carried out with the aim to investigate the role of type I IFNs in
antigen presentation. Bone marrow (BM) derived and splenic antigen presenting cells
(APCs) from WT, IFN-β -/- and IFNAR -/- mice were fed with either ovalbumin (OVA)
peptide or whole protein and their capacity to present antigen was tested in proliferation
assay using T cells from OT I or OT II transgenic mice. APCs derived from WT and IFNβ
-/- BM exhibited a comparable capacity for the antigen presentation to CD8 + T cells. In
contrast splenic APCs from IFN-β -/- as well as from IFNAR -/- were found to be highly
impaired in their ability to activate CD4 + T cells and CD8 + T cells. Thus, our results
provide evidence that type I IFNs play a crucial role in antigen presentation via MHC
class I and II molecules