Images in Clinical Medicine
Immunologic Crosstalk
N Engl J Med 1999; 340:1732June 3, 1999
- Article
Figure 1 Initiation of an immune response requires an interaction between antigen-presenting cells, such as dendritic cells, and helper (CD4) T cells. Antigen-presenting cells process antigens and attract helper T cells by means of chemokines. T cells interact with antigen-presenting cells in a way that initiates a signaling cascade. A series of scanning electron micrographs shows helper T cells interacting in a tissue culture with dendritic cells. Panel A shows two small CD4 T cells (indicated in each panel by the asterisks) docking onto a large, veiled dendritic cell. Panel B shows a dendritic cell rearranging its membrane. In Panels C and D, the dendritic cell is embracing a helper T cell.
To obtain these cells, monocytes were isolated from the blood of a normal person and cultured with growth factors to enable them to differentiate into dendritic cells. Immature dendritic cells in this culture and helper T cells from the blood of a second normal person were isolated by a fluorescence-activated cell sorter and cocultured in a ratio of 10 T cells to 1 dendritic cell.
Jens Atzpodien, M.D., Ph.D.
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, D-30623 Hannover, GermanyKurt E.J. Dittmar, M.D.
Gesellschaft für Brotechnologische Forschung, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany- Citing Articles (2)
Citing Articles
1
Anne M. Wertheimer, Antony Bakke, Hugo R. Rosen. (2004) Direct enumeration and functional assessment of circulating dendritic cells in patients with liver disease. Hepatology 40:2, 335-345
CrossRef2
Schwartz, Robert S., . (1999) The New Immunology — The End of Immunosuppressive Drug Therapy?. New England Journal of Medicine 340:22, 1754-1756
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