Dendritic cells in allergic airway inflammationThis article is one of a selection of papers published in the Special Issue on Recent Advances in Asthma Research

• Published in: Canadian journal of physiology and pharmacology 2007-07, Vol.85 (7), p.686-699
• Main Authors: Bharadwaj, Arpita S, Bewtra, Againdra K, Agrawal, Devendra K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: allergic airway inflammation; asthma; asthme; cellules dendritiques; cellules régulatrices T; dendritic cells; eosinophils; Flt3-ligand; inflammation allergique des voies aériennes; ligand de flt3; T-regulatory cells; tolerance; tolérance; éosinophiles
• ISSN: 0008-4212; 1205-7541
• DOI: 10.1139/Y07-062

Dendritic cells (DCs) are primary antigen-presenting cells involved in interactions with T cells leading to the proliferation of T H 1 or T H 2 cell types. In asthma, predominance of T H 2 cells appears to be responsible for disease pathogenesis. Differentiation of T H 2 cells is driven by a variety of factors such as the expression of high levels of costimulatory molecules, the cytokine profile, and the subset of DCs. Many inflammatory cells involved in the pathogenesis of asthma either directly or indirectly modulate DC function. Traditional treatments for asthma decrease the number of airway DCs in animals as well as in patients with asthma. Immunomodulators including interleukin (IL)-10, transforming growth factor (TGF)- β, cytosine-phosphate-guanosine-containing oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG-ODN), 1 α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 , and fetal liver tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) are involved in the modulation of the function of DCs. Based on the critical review of the interaction between DCs and other inflammatory cells, we propose that activation of T cells by DCs and sensitization to inhaled allergen and resulting airway inflammation are dependent on plasmacytoid and myeloid subset of lung DCs to induce an immune response or tolerance and are tightly regulated by T-regulatory cells. Effects of various therapeutic agents to modulate the function of lung myeloid DCs have been discussed.