Salmonella Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Salmonella, including details on salmonella typhimurium, food poisoning, infection, treatment.

CX3CR1-mediated dendritic cell access to the intestinal lumen and bacterial clearance.

Niess JH, Brand S, Gu X, Landsman L, Jung S, McCormick BA, Vyas JM, Boes M, Ploegh HL, Fox JG, Littman DR, Reinecker HC

Gastrointestinal Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA.

Dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages are critical to innate and adaptive immunity to the intestinal bacterial microbiota. Here, we identify a myeloid-derived mucosal DC in mice, which populates the entire lamina propria of the small intestine. Lamina propria DCs were found to depend on the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 to form transepithelial dendrites, which enable the cells to directly sample luminal antigens. CX3CR1 was also found to control the clearance of entero-invasive pathogens by DCs. Thus, CX3CR1-dependent processes, which control host interactions of specialized DCs with commensal and pathogenic bacteria, may regulate immunological tolerance and inflammation.

Published 17 January 2005 in Science, 307(5707): 254-8.
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