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Published online before print September 13, 2006

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© by The Society for Leukocyte Biology
Journal of Leukocyte Biology, doi:10.1189/jlb.0706438

Received for publication July 10, 2006.
Revised August 10, 2006.
Accepted for publication August 13, 2006.

Article

Lipids in dendritic cell biology: messengers, effectors, and antigens

Department of Urology, Innsbruck Medical University, and kompetenzzentrum medizin tirol (KMT), Innsbruck, Austria

^@ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: martin.thurnher{at}uibk.ac.at.

	Abstract

Dendritic cells (DC) are the most professional APC, which induce and coordinate immune responses. The principal task of DC is T cell activation, although DC also interact with and regulate other cell types. The present review serves to illustrate the increasing evidence that lipids play an important role in DC biology. In addition to being fuel stores and structural components of cellular membranes such as in other cell types, lipids act as second messengers and as effectors throughout all steps of DC differentiation and regulate important DC functions. The recent finding that DC synthesize lipid antigens in response to bacterial stimulation and induce antibacterial, CD1-restricted T cells through antigenic mimicry further emphasizes the important role of lipids and DC at the blurring boundaries of innate and adaptive immunity.

Key Words: inflammation • autocrine regulation • cytokine