CTL priming by CD8+ and CD8- dendritic cells in vivo

Abstract

Two distinct developmental pathways are driving the formation of myeloid- and lymphoid-related dendritic cells (DC) which differ in anatomical localization and phenotype. In terms of function, it has been hypothesized that only the myeloid-related CD8- DC are able to initiate immune responses, whereas the lymphoid-related CD8+ DC have been suggested to induce tolerance. Here we show that both subsets activate CD8+ T cells in vitro and induce protective anti-viral CTL responses in vivo. Thus, vaccine strategies using peptide-pulsed DC do not have to take into account DC subsets for priming.