A Single Subset of Dendritic Cells Controls the Cytokine Bias of Natural Killer T Cell Responses to Diverse Glycolipid Antigens

Many hematopoietic cell types express CD1d and are capable of presenting glycolipid antigens to invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells). However, the question of which cells are the principal presenters of glycolipid antigens in vivo remains controversial, and it has been suggested that this might vary depending on the structure of a particular glycolipid antigen. Here we have shown that a single type of cell, the CD8 alpha(+) DEC-205(+) dendritic cell, was mainly responsible for capturing and presenting a variety of different glycolipid antigens, including multiple forms of alpha-galactosylceramide that stimulate widely divergent cytokine responses. After glycolipid presentation, these dendritic cells rapidly altered their expression of various costimulatory and coinhibitory molecules in a manner that was dependent on the structure of the antigen. These findings show flexibility in the outcome of two-way communication between CD8 alpha(+) dendritic cells and iNKT cells, providing a mechanism for biasing toward either proinflammatory or anti-inflammatory responses.