| First Author | Calderon B | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 105 |
| Issue | 16 | Pages | 6121-6 |
| PubMed ID | 18427107 | Mgi Jnum | J:134675 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3789519 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.0801973105 |
| Citation | Calderon B, et al. (2008) Dendritic cells in islets of Langerhans constitutively present beta cell-derived peptides bound to their class II MHC molecules. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105(16):6121-6 |
| abstractText | Islets of Langerhans from normal mice contained dendritic cells (DCs) in the range of 8-10 per islet. DCs were found in several mouse strains, including those from lymphocyte-deficient mice. DCs were absent in islets from colony stimulating factor-1 deficient mice and this absence correlated with small size islets. Most DCs were found next to blood vessels and resided in islets for several days. Some DCs contained insulin-like granules, and most expressed peptide-MHC complexes derived from beta cell proteins. Islet DCs were highly effective in presenting beta cell antigens to CD4 T cells ex vivo. Presentation of beta cell-derived peptide-MHC complexes by DCs neither depended on islet inflammation nor correlated with the extent of spontaneous beta cell death. Periislet stroma DCs did not contain beta cell peptide-MHC complexes; however, 50% of DCs in pancreatic node were positive. Hence, presentation of high levels of beta cell antigens normally takes place by islet DCs, a finding that has to be placed in the perspective of autoimmune diabetes. |
