树突状细胞生物学研究进展

Progress in Biology of Dendritic Cells——Review

树突状细胞(dendritic cells,DC)作为体内功能最强的抗原呈递细胞(antigen presenting cells,APC),其强大的抗肿瘤效应以及由DC疫苗引领的肿瘤免疫治疗已经得到广泛认可。然而,越来越多的研究表明,DC是一个异质性极大的细胞群体,不同DC亚群的生物学特点存在较大差异。另外,DC疫苗的临床应用也证实除了按照人们的意愿发挥保护性免疫功能外,DC疫苗还可引发自身免疫耐受以及超敏反应等副作用。因此,我们有必要对DC亚群的生物学特点进行深入研究,这对DC疫苗的优化以及合理临床应用有重要指导意义。本文综述了DC亚群的起源、分化及其免疫功能和临床应用方面的研究进展。

As the most potent antigen-presenting cells （APC）, dendritic cells are important in launching both humoral and celluar immune responses against tumor. Although the high evaluation of DC in immmmotherapy for cancer by means of DC vaccines, more studies have indicated DC is a heterogeneous population and proved that DC subsets are prominent determinants for the effectiveness of immune responses. Different DC subsets display different receptors and surface molecules, and express different sets of cytokines/chemokines, which result in distinct immunological outcomes. Clinical trials with ex vivo generated DC vaccines also manifest unexpected immunological tolerance as well as allegic response. It is essential to study the biological aspects of human DC subsets, which may be a key to the generation of novel DC-based vaccines. In this article, the progress of studies on biology of dendritic cells including their origins, differentiation, function and application of DC subsets is reviewed.