Cd141-positive dendritic cell

As a link between innate and acquired (adaptive) immunity, dendritic cells occupy a prominent position in the immune system as professional antigen-presenting cells.

The CD141+ dendritic cell, also called CD14+DC, reside in the circulating peripheral blood. They react with the antibody BDCA-3, which is directed against the CD141 antigen (= thrombomodulin). Thrombomodulin is a protein that acts as a transmembrane receptor for thrombin in the endothelial cell. Thrombomodulin regulates (prevents) coagulation within an uninjured (physiological) vessel.

Animal experiments have shown that thrombomodulin converts immunogenic, conventional dendritic cells into tolerogenic dendritic cells. Thus, thrombomodulin(+) dendritic cells behave tolerogenic, while thrombomodulin(-) dendritic cells act pro-inflammatory and immunogenic. Because CD141+ dendritic cells express thrombomodulin at the surface, these DCs are involved in the activation of the protease protein C (Toda M et al. 2013).

CD141+ DCs are the only cells in peripheral human blood that express the chemokine receptor XCR1. The ligand is the chemokine XCL1 (Bigley V et al. 2015). They are able to induce interleukin-4 - and interleukin-13 - secreting CD4 + T cells (Yu CI et al. 2014).

CD141+ dendritic cells have been detected in peripheral blood, skin, lung and liver. CD141+ DCs occur in large numbers in normal liver parenchyma and are depleted in various liver diseases. It is believed that this dendritic cell population plays an important role in liver immunity (Kelly A et al. 2014). They influence the tolerogenicity of epithelia and endothelia.

In the respiratory tract of the mouse the CD141 protein equivalent CD103 is expressed.

CD 103+ positive DCs are localized in the mouse along the alveoli and the larger respiratory tract (an analogous situation is suspected in humans). The murine CD103+ DCs resemble human Langerhans cells of the skin with their tentacle-like extensions reaching deep into the epithelium.

Important is the special ability of CD141+ cells to cross present antigens to CD8-positive T cells (Bachem A et al. 2010).

1. Bachem A et al(2010) Superior antigen cross-presentation and XCR1 expression define human CD11c+CD141+ cells as homologues of mouse CD8+ dendritic cells. J Exp Med 207:1273-1281.
2. Bigley V et al (2015) Langerin-expressing dendritic cells in human tissues are related to CD1c+ dendritic cells and distinct from Langerhans cells and CD141high XCR1+ dendritic cells. J Leukoc Biole 97:627634.
3. Breton G et al (2015) Circulating precursors of human CD1c+ and CD141+ dendritic cells. J Exp Med 212:401-413 Jongbloed SL et al.(2010) Human CD141+ (BDCA-3)+ dendritic cells (DCs) represent a unique myeloid DC subset that cross-presents necrotic cell antigens. J Exp Med 207:1247-1260.
4. Kelly A et al (2014) CD141⁺ myeloid dendritic cells are enriched in healthy human liver. J Hepatol 60:135-142.
5. Toda M et al (2013) Differential gene expression in thrombomodulin (TM; CD141)(+) and TM(-) dendritic cell subsets. PLoS One 8:e72392.
6. Yu CI et al (2014) Human CD141+ dendritic cells induce CD4+ T cells to produce type 2 cytokines. J Immunol 193:4335-443.