RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Dendritic cells and immune regulation in the liver
JF Gut
JO Gut
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Society of Gastroenterology
SP 307
OP 314
DO 10.1136/gut.52.2.307
VO 52
IS 2
A1 A H Lau
A1 A W Thomson
YR 2003
UL http://gut.bmj.com/content/52/2/307.abstract
AB Hepatic dendritic cells (DC) unquestionably play important roles in the induction and regulation of immune responses. Due to their paucity, functional characterisation of these important antigen presenting cells has been slow but use of DC growth factors (in particular GM-CSF and Flt3L) that markedly enhance their numbers has proved helpful in furnishing adequate study material. While there is growing evidence that DC function is affected in the pathogenesis of liver disease, most work to date has been performed on non-hepatic DC. Increasing knowledge of hepatic DC biology is likely to improve our understanding of disease pathogenesis and resistance to and therapy of liver disease.