Compartment-specific immunity in the human gut: properties and functions of dendritic cells in the colon versus the ileum.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Dendritic cells (DC) mediate intestinal immune tolerance. Despite striking differences between the colon and the ileum both in function and bacterial load, few studies distinguish between properties of immune cells in these compartments. Furthermore, information of gut DC in humans is scarce. We aimed to characterise human colonic versus ileal DC.

Design

Human DC from paired colonic and ileal samples were characterised by flow cytometry, electron microscopy or used to stimulate T cell responses in a mixed leucocyte reaction.

Results

A lower proportion of colonic DC produced pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumour necrosis factor-α and interleukin (IL)-1β) compared with their ileal counterparts and exhibited an enhanced ability to generate CD4(+)FoxP3(+)IL-10(+) (

SUBMITTER: Mann ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4530083 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature