The migration of APCs from sites of infection and their maturation are critical elements in the generation of immune responses. However, the paths by which intraocular Ags migrate to draining lymph nodes are not known because the eye has limited lymphatic vessels. To date, only dendritic cells from the cornea and conjunctiva have been shown to emigrate. We demonstrate that phagocytic APCs in the anterior uveal tissues of the murine eye that ingest fluorescent latex beads do not migrate to regional lymph nodes. The beads are ingested in the uveal tract by cells expressing MHC class II, CD11c, or F4/80. Using intravital time-lapse videomicroscopy to monitor iris APC migration after anterior chamber injection of fluorescent Ag, fluorescently labeled APCs fail to move at multiple observation times, even in the presence of Ag and LPS. Whereas an as yet unidentified ocular nonphagocytic APC subset might migrate from the anterior uveal tissues, it is more probable that immune responses in the draining lymph nodes are engendered by soluble Ag escaping the eye through interstitial spaces. The inability of anterior uveal tissue APCs to migrate to lymph nodes may contribute to deviant immune responses that dominate after Ags are introduced into the anterior chamber.

No abstract