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Dendritic cell
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The dendritic cell is the sentinel of the immune system. Its job has two sides: switching on the response when a pathogen shows up, meaning a microbe capable of doing harm, and keeping immune balance, a state of calm, toward harmless antigens, those foreign molecules the body runs into every day that pose no threat.
It does not sit and wait: it constantly collects small samples of whatever is around it. It does this by phagocytosis, which is swallowing the particle whole; by receptor-mediated endocytosis, which is catching it with a kind of specific hook; and by pinocytosis, which is drinking a sip of the surrounding fluid. With the sample on board, it leaves. It patrols the tissue, picks up a sample, and carries it to the command post.
That command post is the lymph node that drains the area. There it displays the antigen mounted on molecules called MHC, class I or class II, which work like serving trays. Naive T cells, the ones that have never seen that enemy before, recognize it there and become activated.
In brief
The dendritic cell is the sentinel of the immune system: it stimulates the response against pathogens and maintains immune balance toward harmless antigens.
It continuously samples antigens from its surroundings by phagocytosis, receptor-mediated endocytosis, and pinocytosis, then migrates to the lymph node that drains the area.
It patrols the tissue, picks up a sample, and carries it to the command post.
There it presents the antigen on MHC class I or class II molecules and activates naive T cells.
Sources (1)
- Springer, National Center for Biotechnology Information BookshelfDendritic Cells, The Impact of Food Bioactives on Health, chapter 17Published
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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