Introduction: Dendritic cells (DCs) are able to present antigen to T lymphocytes and to orientate the immune response towards a Th1 or a Th2 type.
State of the art: The aim of this report is to present different studies comparing DCs from allergic patients with those from healthy subjects using in vivo and in vitro experimental conditions. These studies have demonstrated that cellules dentritiquess from house dust mite allergic patients:i) take up house dust mite allergen more efficiently, ii) after stimulation by house dust mite allergen, secrete a restricted panel of cytokines and chemokines, and express characteristic co-stimulatory molecules, favoring a Th2 profile, iii) after stimulation by house dust mite allergen, induce Th2 cytokines secretion by T lymphocytes, and iv) favor an allergen-specific Th2 airway inflammatory response in an in vivo model of humanized mice.
Perspectives: Functional modulation of DC could be a new therapeutic concept in allergic airway diseases.
Conclusions: These results show phenotypic and functional specificities of DC from house dust mite allergic patients, and suggest a key-role for cellules dentritiques in the pathogenesis of allergen-dependent airway inflammatory response.