Dendritic Cells

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the sentinels of the immune system and play a critical role in stimulating immune responses against pathogens and maintaining immune homeostasis to harmless antigens. They can be found in all lymphoid and most non-lymphoid tissues, including mucosal surfaces, like the lung and the gut, where intricate networks of DCs are situated to sense potential harmful exposures. As such, DCs are among the fi rst cells to come into contact with food bioactives in the gastrointestinal tract and thus are instrumental in shaping the immune system's response to such exposures. Here we provide an overview of DC characteristics, with the emphasis on DCs in the mucosal immune system, and discuss in vitro/ex vivo DC culture settings that can be applied for in vitro testing of (food) compounds.

Complexification of In Vitro Models of Intestinal Barriers, A True Challenge for a More Accurate Alternative Approach

“…Finally, primary dendritic cells such as BDCA3 and CD1c may also be extracted from PBMC and are easily obtained from blood. However, they have short-term survival time and the rate of extraction from PBMC is relatively low (1% of total cells), limiting their interest for the moment [ 185 ]. To overcome this limitation, the KG1 cell line could also be co-cultured.…”