Mucosal immunity and inflammation. I. Mucosal dendritic cells: their specialized role in initiating T cell responses.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most competent antigen-presenting cells known for the induction of primary T cell responses. Functional studies of tissue-resident DCs have been impaired by the rarity of these cells in any given organ. Recent development of isolation procedures allowing extraction of highly purified fresh DC populations has made it possible to study mucosal DCs in distinct mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues. Here, we discuss several recent studies by us and others that describe the tissue-specific phenotype and function of mucosal DCs and speculate on the mechanism by which the resident DCs regulate tissue-specific T cell responses.