Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Johnson & Johnson

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 16 October 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5388, pp. 424 - 425
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5388.424
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Perspectives

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives

IMMUNOLOGY:
Enhanced: Developmental Options

Ken Shortman and Eugene Maraskovsky

Dendritic cells (DCs) are immune cells that migrate from peripheral tissues to lymph nodes, where they guard the body against foreign invaders. Their exact origin, however, remains obscure. Experiments in cell culture have suggested that cytokines control the developmental choice of their precursors, monocytes, to become macrophages or DCs. But this may not be the whole story. In their Perspective, Shortman and Maraskovsky discuss the results of Randolph et al., reported in the same issue, which suggest that the migration process itself is central to the differentiation of macrophages and DCs. Future studies will need to address whether signals generated by the migration process differ from those generated by cytokine-driven cultures to promote DC development.

K. Shortman is in the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia; e-mail: van_es{at}wehi.edu.au. E. Maraskovsky is in the Oncology Unit, Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research, Melbourne, Australia; e-mail: eugene.maraskovsky{at}ludwig.edu.au.

Read the Full Text

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)