Human plasmacytoid-derived dendritic cells and the induction of T-regulatory cells

Suppression by T-regulatory (Tr) cells is essential for the induction of T-cell tolerance and the prevention of autoimmune diseases, organ rejection, and graft-versus-host disease. Increasing attention has been devoted to understand the role of dendritic cells (DC) in the control of Tr-cell differentiation. Here we review the recent evidence that cluster designation (CD)40-ligand activated plasmacytoid-derived DCs (DC2) have the ability to induce primary Tr-cell differentiation. We propose that in addition to the regulatory functions of immature myeloid DC, Tr-cell induction by DC2 represents a non-redundant mechanism for the safeguard of peripheral T-cell tolerance. DC2 can be used as tool to drive potent antigen specific Tr-cell differentiation and expansion in vitro and in vivo.