Knolle Percy A
Institute for Molecular Medicine and Experimental Immunology, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany.
Results Probl Cell Differ. 2006;43:151-73. doi: 10.1007/400_018.
Endothelial cells lining the blood vessels form a barrier between circulating immune cells and parenchymal tissue. While the molecular mechanisms involved in antigen-independent recruitment of leukocytes into infected tissue have been extensively studied, the mechanisms involving antigen-specific recruitment of T cells into tissue have remained largely elusive. Here I shall review the experimental evidence that endothelial cells function as antigen-presenting cells and in this function contribute first to regulation of immune responses and second, to antigen-specific recruitment of T cells.
