Abstract
Dendritic cell (DC) subsets in the skin and draining lymph nodes (LNs) are likely to elicit distinct immune response types. In skin and skin-draining LNs, a dermal DC subset expressing macrophage galactose-type C-type lectin 2 (MGL2/CD301b) was found distinct from migratory Langerhans cells (LCs) or CD103(+) dermal DCs (dDCs). Lower expression levels of Th1-promoting and/or cross-presentation-related molecules were suggested by the transcriptome analysis and verified by the quantitative real-time PCR analysis in MGL2(+) dDCs than in CD103(+) dDCs. Transfer of MGL2(+) dDCs but not CD103(+) dDCs from FITC-sensitized mice induced a Th2-type immune response in vivo in a model of contact hypersensitivity. Targeting MGL2(+) dDCs with a rat monoclonal antibody against MGL2 efficiently induced a humoral immune response with Th2-type properties, as determined by the antibody subclass. We propose that the properties of MGL2(+) dDCs, are complementary to those of CD103(+) dDCs and skew the immune response toward a Th2-type response.