Extended presentation of specific MHC-peptide complexes by mature dendritic cells compared to other types of antigen-presenting cells

Eur J Immunol. 2004 Jun;34(6):1551-60. doi: 10.1002/eji.200324355.

Abstract

Dendritic cells are known as the most potent antigen-presenting cells for the induction of T cell-mediated immune responses. To discriminate between the presentation of antigens and the co-stimulatory aspects of this high immunostimulatory capacity, we used recombinant antibodies with T cell receptor-like specificity to detect defined MHC-peptide complexes on living cells. Mature human dendritic cells (mDC) were compared with immature DC (iDC), monocytes, CD4(+) T lymphocytes, melanoma cells, T2 cells and B lymphoblastoid cells for their capacity to present MHC class I-restricted tumor-associated T cell epitopes and were found to display the specific peptides two to six times longer than other cells. The most short-lived peptide had an average half-life of 8.7 h on mDCvs. 3.5 h on B lymphoblastoid cells, while the most long-lived peptide had a half-life of 118.5 h vs. 20.7 h on these two cell types. The decay kinetics of specific MHC-peptide complexes on iDC were among the fastest observed. The high potency of dendritic cells to induce specific T cell responses is thus based, in addition to the expression of co-stimulatory molecules, on an extended antigenic memory, which increases the likelihood and the extent of contacts between dendritic cells and antigen-specific T cells.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antigen Presentation / immunology*
  • B-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Cell Line, Tumor / immunology
  • Cell Membrane / immunology
  • Dendritic Cells / immunology*
  • Epitopes / immunology
  • HLA-A Antigens / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Kinetics
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Monocytes / immunology
  • Peptide Fragments / immunology
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / immunology*
  • Recombinant Proteins / immunology
  • Sodium Azide

Substances

  • Epitopes
  • HLA-A Antigens
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Sodium Azide