If macrophages are the custodians of the immune system, dendritic cells (DCs) are its diplomats. They capture antigens, migrate to lymphoid tissues, and 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘛 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 – 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺. 

𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 
DCs are highly specialized for presenting antigens: 
𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦: DCs patrol peripheral tissues, sampling their environment through endocytosis and phagocytosis. 
𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨: Antigens are degraded into peptides within endosomal compartments.  

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 
MHC class II → Presents to CD4⁺ T helper cells. 
MHC class I (via cross-presentation) → Presents to CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cells, even for extracellular antigens. 
Co-stimulation and cytokines: Essential for T cell priming and differentiation. This unique cross-presentation ability makes DCs 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 [1]. 

𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 
Reinhold Förster (Hannover Medical School) elucidated DC trafficking to lymph nodes, crucial for T cell activation [2]. 
Andreas Beilhack (University of Würzburg) explores DC–T cell interactions in immunotherapy, bridging experimental and translational research [3]. 

𝗗𝗖𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗽𝘆: 𝗖𝗔𝗥-𝗗𝗖𝘀? 
𝘊𝘈𝘙-𝘋𝘊𝘴: Engineering DCs to express chimeric receptors or tailored antigen-loading platforms could enable programmable antigen presentation, instructing T cells more efficiently and precisely[4]. 
𝘋𝘊 𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴: Already tested in melanoma and prostate cancer, they show how manipulating DC function can mobilize immunity. 

𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗛𝘆𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀 
What if we could create ´DC hubs´ – engineered DCs acting as antigen-presenting microfactories inside the tumor microenvironment? Instead of targeting tumor cells directly, they would train armies of endogenous T cells in situ. This could bypass tumor heterogeneity and resistance seen in CAR-T therapies. 

Stay tuned for 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝟰: 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗞𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀
1. DOI: 10.1038/nri3254 
2. DOI: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80059-8 
3. DOI: 10.1007/s00262-016-1938-y 
4. DOI:10.1200/JCO.2017.35.7_suppl.144 

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