Restraining order for dendritic cells: all quiet on the fetal front

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Rana Chakraborty, Emory University; Bali Pulendran, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2009-07-01
• Publisher: American Society for Clinical Investigation
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2009, American Society for Clinical Investigation
• Final Published Version (URL): http://www.jci.org/119/7
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Clinical Investigation
• ISSN: 0021-9738
• Volume: 119
• Issue: 7
• Start Page: 1854
• End Page: 1857
• Grant/Funding Information: The work in the authors’ laboratory was supported by funding from the NIH (grants R01 DK057665, R01 AI048638, U19 AI057266, U54 AI057157, N01 AI50019, and N01 AI50025); Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to B. Pulendran
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Pathology; Health Sciences, Immunology

Abstract

The paradoxical ability to launch effective immunity against pathogens while avoiding the horror autotoxicus of autoimmunity is one of the most remarkable features of the mammalian immune system. This assumes a particular evolutionary significance at the maternal/fetal interface, where avoidance of immune reactivity to the fetus is vital to the propagation of the species itself. Several mechanisms of suppressing maternal immunity against the fetus have been described. The article by Collins et al. in this issue of the JCI describes a novel mechanism of avoiding immune surveillance in which the migratory capacity of dendritic cells at the maternal/fetal interface is restrained (see the related article beginning on page 2062).