Background: Dendritic cells represent the most effective antigen presenting cells and they are the only cell type capable of initiating the primary immune response. They use several sets of germ-line encoded receptors to differentiate between self and non-self and to detect the presence of danger signals. Danger signals are mainly represented by microbial pathogens but it can be also a necrotic or malignant cell. At various stages of their lifecycle dendritic cells play a key role in maintaining the peripheral tolerance towards self-antigens and in the initiation of an effective immune response. Glucocorticoids have been widely used in the treatment of autoimmune or inflammatory disorders and their immunosuppressive effect has been mainly attributed to the inhibition of lymphocytes functions.
Methods and results: In this study, we discuss the effects of glucocorticoids on in vitro generated myeloid dendritic cells and on peripheral blood myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells subsets.
Conclusions: Experimental results point to the profound suppressive effect of glucocorticoids on the antigen presenting functions of dendritic cells and to contribute to better understanding of glucocorticoids-mediated immunosuppressive effect.