Stable T cell-dendritic cell interactions precede the development of both tolerance and immunity in vivo.

The maturation status of dendritic cells (DCs) determines whether they prime or tolerize T cells. We targeted ovalbumin peptide exclusively to DCs in situ using an antibody to DEC-205 and studied the interaction of DCs with naive CD4(+) T cells in tolerizing or priming conditions. We used two-photon microscopy to simultaneously track antigen-specific OT-II T cells, nonspecific T cells and DCs in lymph nodes of living mice. In both tolerance and immunity, OT-II cells arrested on DCs near high endothelial venules beginning shortly after extravasation and regained their baseline speed by 18 h. Thus, early antigen-dependent T cell arrest on DCs is a shared feature of tolerance and priming associated with activation and proliferation.