Advanced Course in Immunology On Demand Lecture Recordings-Dendritic cells, related cells and initiation of adaptive immunity

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The speaker, Stephanie Eisenbarth, gave an overview of dendritic cells (DCs) and related myeloid cells in immune regulation. She began by contrasting the innate immune system—fast, germline-encoded, and pre-programmed—to the adaptive immune system, which is slower but highly diverse and capable of dangerous misfires such as allergy, autoimmunity, and alloimmunization. DCs were presented as the key “translator” cells linking innate sensing to lymphocyte activation.<br /><br />She explained antigen presentation through MHC class I and II, including cross-presentation, and emphasized that naive T cells need both signal 1 (antigen) and signal 2 (costimulation, especially CD80/CD86 via CD28). Pattern recognition receptors such as toll-like receptors detect pathogen-associated molecular patterns and damage-associated molecular patterns, inducing DC activation and the “maturation” program that increases costimulation and CCR7-driven migration to lymph nodes.<br /><br />A major theme was DC subset diversity and nomenclature. She focused on conventional DC1s and DC2s, plasmacytoid DCs, Langerhans cells, migratory versus resident DCs, monocyte-derived DCs, and controversial emerging subsets such as RORγt+ APCs and Mreg DCs. Functionally, DC1s are especially important for CD8 T-cell priming and Th1 responses, while DC2s are more associated with CD4 T-cell responses such as Th2 and Tfh. She also highlighted that many apparent “subsets” may actually be activation states shaped by tissue context.<br /><br />The talk closed with key open questions: how DCs tailor T-cell fate, how tolerance breaks down in autoimmunity, how metabolism affects DC function, and how DC biology could be leveraged for vaccines and cancer immunotherapy.

Asset Subtitle

Lecture 8: Stephanie Eisenbarth, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Asset Caption

Stephanie Eisenbarth, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Dendritic cells, related cells and initiation of adaptive immunity

Keywords

dendritic cells

immune regulation

innate immunity

adaptive immunity

antigen presentation

MHC class I

MHC class II

costimulation

toll-like receptors

DC subsets

T-cell activation

cancer immunotherapy