Induction of tolerance to innocuous inhaled antigen relies on a CCR7-dependent dendritic cell-mediated antigen transport to the bronchial lymph node

G Hintzen, L Ohl, ML del Rio… - The Journal of …, 2006 - journals.aai.org
G Hintzen, L Ohl, ML del Rio, JI Rodriguez-Barbosa, O Pabst, JR Kocks, J Krege, S Hardtke
The Journal of Immunology, 2006journals.aai.org
Allergic airway diseases such as asthma are caused by a failure of the immune system to
induce tolerance against environmental Ags. The underlying molecular and cellular
mechanisms that initiate tolerance are only partly understood. In this study, we demonstrated
that a CCR7-dependent migration of both CD103+ and CD103− lung dendritic cells (DC) to
the bronchial lymph node (brLN) is indispensable for this process. Although inhaled Ag is
amply present in the brLN of CCR7-deficient mice, T cells cannot be tolerized because of the …
Abstract
Allergic airway diseases such as asthma are caused by a failure of the immune system to induce tolerance against environmental Ags. The underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms that initiate tolerance are only partly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that a CCR7-dependent migration of both CD103+ and CD103− lung dendritic cells (DC) to the bronchial lymph node (brLN) is indispensable for this process. Although inhaled Ag is amply present in the brLN of CCR7-deficient mice, T cells cannot be tolerized because of the impaired migration of Ag-carrying DC and subsequent transport of Ag from the lung to the draining lymph node. Consequently, the repeated inhalation of Ag protects wild-type but not CCR7-deficient mice from developing allergic airway diseases. Thus, the continuous DC-mediated transport of inhaled Ag to the brLN is critical for the induction of tolerance to innocuous Ags.
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