Stable T cell-dendritic cell interactions precede the development of both tolerance and immunity in vivo.
Shakhar G., Lindquist RL., Skokos D., Dudziak D., Huang JH., Nussenzweig MC., Dustin ML.
The maturation status of dendritic cells (DCs) determines whether they prime or tolerize T cells. We targeted ovalbumin peptide exclusively to DCs in situ using an antibody to DEC-205 and studied the interaction of DCs with naive CD4(+) T cells in tolerizing or priming conditions. We used two-photon microscopy to simultaneously track antigen-specific OT-II T cells, nonspecific T cells and DCs in lymph nodes of living mice. In both tolerance and immunity, OT-II cells arrested on DCs near high endothelial venules beginning shortly after extravasation and regained their baseline speed by 18 h. Thus, early antigen-dependent T cell arrest on DCs is a shared feature of tolerance and priming associated with activation and proliferation.