Phenotypic Variation and Functional Differences within Dendritic Cells Isolated from Afferent Lymph

Abstract

Dendritic cells are pivotal in the stimulation of naive T cells, however a constraint to the understanding of their biology is that most methods of isolation from tissues or blood involve culturing the cells. While effective methods of isolation have been developed it is known that culturing cells of this lineage results in changes in their capacity to stimulate T cell responses. These functional changes have been related to the level of expression by the cells of a number of surface molecules and their rate of turnover as well as changes in ability to pinocytose and process soluble antigens.