Anti-Mouse Dendritic Cells - FITC (D106-GRP)

Dendritic cells are antigen presenting cells that have two functions. They scan the body collecting and processing antigen material that they present on the cell surface to T cells, and they maintain T cell tolerance to “self”. The morphology of dendritic cells is characterized by an extremely large surface-to-volume ratio. Murine splenic dendritic cells can occur in two types: myeloid (cDC) and lymphoid (pDC). Lymphoid dendritic cells produce high amounts of IFN-α and are also called Plasmacytoid dendritic cell because they have an appearance similar to plasma cells. Myeloid, or conventional dendritic cells, secrete IL-12, IL-6, TNF, and chemokines and can be further categorized into three subtypes (CD4−CD8+, CD4+CD8− and CD4−CD8−). These differ from other migratory dendritic cells such as Langerhans cells and interstitial dendritic cells that migrate from peripheral tissues to the lymph nodes. The exact nature and biological activity of the dendritic cell surface marker DCIR2 is currently unknown. DCs are known to play a role in several diseases including myeloid cancer, pDC leukemia, HIV, lupus erythematosus, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. However, it is thought that DCs may be able to control cancer progression because increased densities of DC populations have been linked with better clinical outcome. Lung cancers have been found to include four different subsets of dendritic cells; some of which can activate immune cells that can suppress tumor growth. Dendritic cells have also been shown to play a role in the success of cancer immunotherapies in experimental models. Specifically, the immune checkpoint blocker anti-PD-1 has been shown to indirectly activate DCs through IFN-γ released from drug-activated T cells. Agonizing the non-canonical NF-κB pathway also activates DCs and further enhances anti-PD-1 therapy in an IL-12-dependent manner.