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First published online August 16, 2005

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SPARCing an immune response

Our skin is one of our major defences against disease, providing a barrier to pathogens and a home to epidermal Langerhans cells (LCs) and dermal dendritic cells (DCs). These professional antigen-presenting cells alert the immune system to invading pathogens by taking antigens from the skin to nearby lymph nodes, a journey that is hindered by intervening collagen-dense tissues. Mario Colombo and colleagues now report that SPARC (secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine), a matricellular protein that regulates collagen deposition in tissue stroma, modulates LC and DC migration in vivo (see p. 3685). The authors show first that the migration of these cells in SPARC-null mice is faster than in wild-type mice. Experiments in chimeric mice demonstrate that this increased migration is due to the host environment and that the lack of SPARC accelerates contact- and delayed-type hypersensitivity and T-cell priming. Thus, stromal SPARC expression, by determining the tightness of the extracellular matrix, influences the migration of LCs and DCs and hence the speed at which the immune system responds to invading pathogens.

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Accelerated dendritic-cell migration and T-cell priming in SPARC-deficient mice

Sabina Sangaletti, Lucia Gioiosa, Cristiana Guiducci, Gianluca Rotta, Maria Rescigno, Antonella Stoppacciaro, Claudia Chiodoni, and Mario P. Colombo
JCS 2005 118: 3685-3694. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?