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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 34/3/749    most recent 09031936.00140908v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Permissions Request Permissions Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Girard, M. Articles by Cormier, Y. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Girard, M. Articles by Cormier, Y.

Mature CD11c⁺ cells are enhanced in hypersensitivity pneumonitis

Centre de recherche de l’Institute universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Quebec City, QC, Canada.

CORRESPONDENCE: Y. Cormier, Centre de recherche de l’Institute universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, 2725 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, QC, G1V 4G5, Canada. E-mail: Yvon.Cormier{at}med.ulaval.ca

Keywords: Antigen presentation, farmer’s lung, mice, Saccharopolyspora rectivirgula, Sendai virus

Received: September 12, 2008
Accepted February 23, 2009

The present study verified the hypothesis that enhanced maturation of antigen-presenting CD11c⁺ cells could explain the viral-induced exacerbated immune response to Saccharopolyspora rectivirgula (SR), the main antigen responsible for farmer’s lung, a classic form of hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP).

Four groups of mice were studied: group 1 received intranasal instillations of saline; group 2 received instillations of SR for 12 weeks; group 3 received instillations of saline and a single infection with Sendai virus on week 3; and group 4 received instillations of SR for 12 weeks with a single administration of Sendai virus on week 3. On week 13, mice were sacrificed and bronchoalveolar lavage was performed. Lungs were harvested, digested with enzymes, and CD11c⁺ cells were analysed in flow cytometry with anti-CD11c, anti-CD86 and anti-major histocompatibility complex class II markers. Immunofluorescence studies were also performed with the same cell surface markers.

Both flow cytometry and immunofluorescence results demonstrate that mature CD11c⁺ cells are significantly enhanced in SR-challenged mice simultaneously infected with Sendai virus, compared with other groups. These CD11c⁺ cells persist in the lung for 9 weeks after the virus infection.

Maturation of CD11c⁺ cells could explain, at least in part, the virus-induced increased immune response to SR antigens in this model of HP, but mechanisms have still to be elucidated.