Apoptosis in dendritic cell biology

Apoptosis or programmed cell death regulates many aspects in immunological homeostasis and, thus, controls the initiation, magnitude, duration, and te rmination of immune responses. Recent studies on dendritic cells (DC), incl uding Langerhans cells (LC), have reinforced this concept by documenting th at these antigen presenting cells express surface receptors and ligands tha t are known to mediate apoptotic cell death and that they are highly suscep tible to apoptotic signals. In this review article, four major topics conce rning apoptosis in the biology of DC will be overviewed: (a) molecular mech anisms of apoptosis; (b) DC apoptosis induced by various stimuli; (c) regul ation of DC apoptosis; and (d) cross-priming and cross-tolerance induced by DC ingesting apoptotic bodies. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.