Origin, maturation and antigen presenting function of dendritic cells.

Dendritic cells are cells specialized for antigen capture, migration and T cell stimulation. Recent advances have been made in understanding their origin, their heterogeneity, the mechanism of antigen uptake, and the signals that induce their migration and maturation into immunostimulatory antigen-presenting cells. Dendritic cells represent the natural adjuvants for T cell responses and their therapeutic exploitation in the near future is foreseen.