Intrahepatic Dendritic Cells

Background. Dendritic cell (DC) system of antigen presenting cells (APC), is the initiator and modulator of immune response. As a role of immune response is implicated in the pathogenesis of liver disease, this communication will describe the function and intrahepatic localization of DC in liver diseases.Methods. Functional characterization of DCs was done by enriching DCs from peripheral blood and different tissues or by transfecting viral genes into DCs. Immunohistochemical localization of DCs was achieved by using DC-specific and APC-related monoclonal antibodies.Results. Peripheral blood-derived DCs from primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and splenic DCs from mice infected with hepatitis viruses showed significantly lower stimulatory capacity compared with controls.DCs were seen at the vicinity of inflammation, such as, near the injured bile ducts in PBC and around focal and piecemeal necrosis in chronic viral liver diseases, but the frequency of CD83-positive, activated and matured DCs was very few.DCs, isolated from mouse liver showed an immature phenotype and were low stimulator in allogenic mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR) compared with splenic DCs.Conclusion. DCs might be a powerful tool to study immuno-pathobiology in liver diseases and inspire optimism of DC-based immune therapy for liver diseases.