The role of splenic lymphoid dendritic cells (DC) and macrophages (M phi) from mice in induction of immune responses in vivo has been investigated. Varying numbers of purified DC and M phi pulsed in vitro with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) or with rabbit antiidiotypic antibodies (Ab2) directed against a private rabbit anti-TMV idiotype were injected back into syngeneic mice. In both systems, DC appeared to strongly enhance the primary and secondary responses to the virus. Optimal responses were obtained with 5 X 10(4) purified DC carrying TMV or rabbit Ab2. In contrast, M phi were less efficient by a factor of at least 100. These results show the potency of lymphoid DC as inducing cells in T-dependent antibody responses in vivo.
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Francotte et al. (1985) studied this question.