Liver antigen-presenting cells.

The liver is an organ in which several major pathogens evade immune clearance and achieve chronicity. How do they do it? Recent research has documented multiple mechanisms by which immune responses in the liver are biased towards tolerance. In this review, the induction of local, intrahepatic tolerance is explored from the perspective of antigen presentation. Experiments support the role not only of liver dendritic cell subsets but also of diverse subsets of unconventional antigen-presenting cells in inducing immune suppression. The literature on this topic is controversial and sometimes contradictory, making it difficult to formulate a unified model of antigen handling and T cell priming in the liver. Here I offer a critical review of the state of the art in understanding antigen presentation in the liver.