Intestinal CD103+, but not CX3CR1+, antigen sampling cells migrate in lymph and serve classical dendritic cell functions

Chemokine receptor CX3CR1(+) dendritic cells (DCs) have been suggested to sample intestinal antigens by extending transepithelial dendrites into the gut lumen. Other studies identified CD103(+) DCs in the mucosa, which, through their ability to synthesize retinoic acid (RA), appear to be capable of generating typical signatures of intestinal adaptive immune responses. We report that CD103 and CX3CR1 phenotypically and functionally characterize distinct subsets of lamina propria cells. In contrast to CD103(+) DC, CX3CR1(+) cells represent a nonmigratory gut-resident population with slow turnover rates and poor responses to FLT-3L and granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Direct visualization of…

• WT
  Wellcome Trust
• UO
  University of Glasgow
• DF
  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

  Award: SFB621
• SF
  Stiftelsen för Strategisk Forskning
• LU
  Lunds Universitet
• MH
  Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover
• MR
  Medical Research Council