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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Naomi McGovern, Dr Xiao WangORCiD, Dr Venetia BigleyORCiD, Professor Matthew CollinORCiD, Professor Muzlifah Haniffa
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Nature Publishing Group, 2017.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
During gestation the developing human fetus is exposed to a diverse range of potentially immune-stimulatory molecules including semi-allogeneic antigens from maternal cells, substances from ingested amniotic fluid, food antigens, and microbes. Yet the capacity of the fetal immune system, including antigen-presenting cells, to detect and respond to such stimuli remains unclear. In particular, dendritic cells, which are crucial for effective immunity and tolerance, remain poorly characterized in the developing fetus. Here we show that subsets of antigen-presenting cells can be identified in fetal tissues and are related to adult populations of antigen-presenting cells. Similar to adult dendritic cells, fetal dendritic cells migrate to lymph nodes and respond to toll-like receptor ligation; however, they differ markedly in their response to allogeneic antigens, strongly promoting regulatory T-cell induction and inhibiting T-cell tumour-necrosis factor-α production through arginase-2 activity. Our results reveal a previously unappreciated role of dendritic cells within the developing fetus and indicate that they mediate homeostatic immune-suppressive responses during gestation.
Author(s): McGovern N, Shin A, Low G, Low D, Duan K, Yao LJ, Msallam R, Low I, Shadan NB, Sumatoh HR, Soon E, Lum J, Mok E, Hubert S, See P, Kunxiang EH, Lee YH, Janela B, Choolani M, Mattar CNZ, Fan Y, Lim TKH, Hong DK, Tan KK, Tam JKC, Schuster C, Elbe-Bürger A, Wang XN, Bigley V, Collin M, Haniffa M, Schlitzer A, Poidinger M, Albani S, Larbi A, Newell EW, Chan JKY, Ginhoux F
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nature
Year: 2017
Volume: 546
Pages: 662-666
Print publication date: 29/06/2017
Online publication date: 14/06/2017
Acceptance date: 27/04/2017
Date deposited: 21/06/2017
ISSN (print): 0028-0836
ISSN (electronic): 1476-4687
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22795
DOI: 10.1038/nature22795
PubMed id: 28614294
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