TY - GEN T1 - Ontogenic, phenotypic, and functional characterization of XCR1+ dendritic cells leads to a consistent classification of intestinal dendritic cells based on the expression of XCR1 and SIRPα AU - Becker, Martina AU - Güttler, Steffen AU - Bachem, Annabell AU - Hartung, Evelyn AU - Mora, Ahmed AU - Jäkel, Anika AU - Hutloff, Andreas AU - Henn, Volker AU - Mages, Hans Werner AU - Gurka, Stephanie AU - Kroczek, Richard AB - In the past, lack of lineage markers confounded the classification of dendritic cells (DC) in the intestine and impeded a full understanding of their location and function. We have recently shown that the chemokine receptor XCR1 is a lineage marker for cross-presenting DC in the spleen. Now, we provide evidence that intestinal XCR1+ DC largely, but not fully, overlap with CD103+ CD11b− DC, the hypothesized correlate of “cross-presenting DC” in the intestine, and are selectively dependent in their development on the transcription factor Batf3. XCR1+ DC are located in the villi of the lamina propria of the small intestine, the T cell zones of Peyer’s patches, and in the T cell zones and sinuses of the draining mesenteric lymph node. Functionally, we could demonstrate for the first time that XCR1+/CD103+ CD11b− DC excel in the cross-presentation of orally applied antigen. Together, our data show that XCR1 is a lineage marker for cross-presenting DC also in the intestinal immune system. Further, extensive phenotypic analyses reveal that expression of the integrin SIRPα consistently demarcates the XCR1− DC population. We propose a simplified and consistent classification system for intestinal DC based on the expression of XCR1 and SIRPα. KW - dendritic cells KW - XCR1 KW - Batf3 KW - cross-presentation KW - SIRPα KW - 610 Medizin PY - 2014 LA - eng PB - Robert Koch-Institut VL - 5 IS - 326 DO - 10.3389/fimmu.2014.00326 ER -