Dendritic Cells Attenuate the Early Establishment of Endometriosis-Like Lesions in a Murine Model

Aleksandar K Stanic, Minji Kim, Aaron K Styer, Bo R Rueda
Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2014 · vol. 21(10) , pp. 1228–1236 · doi:10.1177/1933719114525267 · PMID:24594835 · W2162918127
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Activated dendritic cells in endometriosis-like lesions impair early lesion establishment by activating T cells, as demonstrated by larger lesions in DC-depleted mice.

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This study examined the role of dendritic cells (DCs) during early endometriosis-like lesion establishment using a conditional DC-depletion transgenic mouse model (diphtheria toxin-treated Itgax-hDTR mice) and multiparametric flow cytometry to assess immune cell composition and activation. Compared with native uteri and control splenocytes, endometriosis-like lesions showed increased T cells and DCs with an activated phenotype, and DC depletion resulted in larger lesions along with reduced expression of the T-cell activation marker CD69. The authors explicitly interpret these findings as activated DCs promoting T-cell activation and impairing early lesion establishment, while noting the functional readout is limited to early-stage lesion development and specific activation markers. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it uses DC depletion to demonstrate how activated dendritic cells modulate early lesion establishment in a murine endometriosis-like model.

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Abstract

Complex interplay of innate and adaptive immune cells has been implicated in the establishment, maintenance, and progression of endometriosis. Defining the identity, activation state, and functional role of immune cells during lesion establishment will provide invaluable insight into the underlying mechanisms of disease. This study utilized a transgenic mouse model with conditional dendritic cell (DC) depletion (diphtheria toxin-treated B6.FVB-Itgax-hDTR-EGFPtg) and multiparametric flow cytometry to examine immune cell composition and activation state and to assess the functional role of DCs in endometriosis-like lesions. T cells and DCs were increased in lesions compared to native uteri and control splenocytes and demonstrated an activated phenotype (P < .05). Lesions in DC-depleted hosts demonstrated greater size (P < .001) and reduced expression of T-cell activation marker CD69 compared to controls (P < .05). Collectively, these results suggest that activated DCs within lesions activate T cells and result in the impairment of early lesion establishment. Similar content being viewed by others

References

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Dendritic Cells Attenuate the Early Establishment of Endometriosis-Like Lesions in a Murine Model. Reprod. Sci. 21, 1228–1236 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719114525267 Published: Issue date: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719114525267

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Dendritic Cells Dendritic Cells Disease Models, Animal Endometriosis Endometriosis Animals Cell Count Cell Count Dendritic Cells Endometriosis Female Humans Immunity, Cellular Immunity, Cellular Mice Mice, Inbred C57BL Mice, Transgenic Time Factors

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