Bali Pulendran and his colleagues explore ways that signaling through different pathogen receptors can program dendritic cells (DCs) to orchestrate inflammatory or tolerogenic immune responses. The yeast component zymosan triggers signaling through both Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and the C-type lectin dectin-1. In the absence of TLR2, zymosan induces proinflammatory responses through dectin-1. But TLR2 triggering induces DCs to form the vitamin A–metabolizing enzyme Raldh2. The DCs can then form retinoic acid that acts in an autocrine manner on the DCs, programming them for the induction of regulatory T cell responses.
- Santhakumar Manicassamy
- Rajesh Ravindran
- Bali Pulendran
