Affiliation:
1. Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Livestrong Cancer Institutes, The University of Texas at Austin
3. Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin
Abstract
We identified a novel mouse plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDC) lineage derived from the common lymphoid progenitors (CLPs) that is dependent on expression of
Bcl11a
. These CLP-derived pDCs, which we refer to as “B-pDCs”, have a unique gene expression profile that includes hallmark B cell genes, normally not expressed in conventional pDCs. Despite expressing most classical pDC markers such as SIGLEC-H and PDCA1, B-pDCs lack IFN-α secretion, exhibiting a distinct inflammatory profile. Functionally, B-pDCs induce T cell proliferation more robustly than canonical pDCs following Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) engagement. B-pDCs, along with another homogeneous subpopulation of myeloid derived pDCs, display elevated levels of the cell-surface receptor tyrosine kinase AXL, mirroring human AXL
+
transitional DCs in function and transcriptional profile. Murine B-pDCs therefore represent a phenotypically and functionally distinct CLP-derived DC lineage specialized in T cell activation and previously not described in mice.
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd