Institute of Biomedicine (iBiMED), Department of Medical Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
Department of Immunotechnology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Front Immunol. 2024 Oct 11;15:1439413. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1439413. eCollection 2024.
Tertiary Lymphoid Structures (TLS) are organized aggregates of immune cells such as T cells, B cells, and Dendritic Cells (DCs), as well as fibroblasts, formed postnatally in response to signals from cytokines and chemokines. Central to the function of TLS are DCs, professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that coordinate the adaptive immune response, and which can be classified into different subsets, with specific functions, and markers. In this article, we review current data on the contribution of different DC subsets to TLS function in cancer and autoimmunity, two opposite sides of the immune response. Different DC subsets can be found in different tumor types, correlating with cancer prognosis. Moreover, DCs are also present in TLS found in autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, contributing to disease development. Broadly, the presence of DCs in TLS appears to be associated with favorable clinical outcomes in cancer while in autoimmune pathologies these cells are associated with unfavorable prognosis. Therefore, it is important to analyze the complex functions of DCs within TLS in order to enhance our fundamental understanding of immune regulation but also as a possible route to create innovative clinical interventions designed for the specific needs of patients with diverse pathological diseases.
三级淋巴结构 (TLS) 是由免疫细胞（如 T 细胞、B 细胞和树突状细胞 (DC)）以及成纤维细胞组成的，这些细胞在出生后响应细胞因子和趋化因子的信号而形成。TLS 的功能核心是 DC，即专业的抗原呈递细胞 (APC)，它们协调适应性免疫反应，并且可以分为具有特定功能和标记的不同亚群。在本文中，我们回顾了不同 DC 亚群在癌症和自身免疫这两种免疫反应的相反方面的 TLS 功能中的作用的现有数据。不同的 DC 亚群存在于不同的肿瘤类型中，与癌症预后相关。此外，DC 也存在于自身免疫和炎症条件下的 TLS 中，有助于疾病的发展。一般来说，TLS 中 DC 的存在与癌症的良好临床结果相关，而在自身免疫病理中，这些细胞与不良预后相关。因此，分析 DC 在 TLS 中的复杂功能对于增强我们对免疫调节的基本理解非常重要，也可能是为具有不同病理疾病的患者设计创新的临床干预措施的一种途径。
