Encyclopedia of Experiments: Immunology
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Transcript
Begin by adding an immunomodulatory pharmacological agent to immature dendritic cells, or DCs.
DCs express major histocompatibility complex, or MHC class-II molecule and co-stimulatory molecules, crucial for promoting T cell proliferation during immune responses.
The immunomodulatory agent engages with the DC and triggers the downregulation of MHC class-II and co-stimulatory molecules' expression, thereby converting the DC into a tolerogenic dendritic cell or TolDC.
Co-culture TolDCs with naïve CD4+ T cells.
Add an antigenic peptide to the co-culture.
TolDCs internalize the peptide, subsequently processing and loading the resulting antigen onto the MHC molecule.
The antigen-bound MHC molecule translocates to the cell membrane.
Naïve CD4+ T cells interact directly with the antigen-MHC complex on TolDCs.
The interaction with the co-stimulatory molecule on the mature DC enables the full activation of the naïve T cell.
Without co-stimulation, the naïve CD4+ T cell remains dormant and cannot initiate an immune response against the presented antigen.