Biological aspects of human plasmacytoid dendritic cells and their leukemic counterparts; similarities and differences

Abstract

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) are also known as natural type-I-interferon-producing cell (IPC) owing its name to an outstanding capacity to secrete large amounts of type I interferons (IFN) upon viral infections, thus constituting important mediators in antiviral immunity. This review aims to summarize some of the human pDC attributes, such as their origin, migration, as well as recent findings on interaction of pDC with other cells within the immune system. In addition, we will review the differences and similarities between pDC and their leukemic counterparts (LpDC), with a special focus on the validity of using cell lines derived from leukemic pDC as a model to study normal pDC.