Dendritic Cells in Drug-induced Toxicity

Dendritic cells play a key role in immunity and tolerance. They are the most abundant population of leukocytes in a number of different tissues and organs. One of the important functions of dendritic cells is rapid recognition of pathogens or products of tissue injury. Depending on the nature of the inciting stimuli, they may elicit either pro- or antiinflammatory responses with or without the involvement of the adaptive immune system. Dendritic cells are generally considered beneficial to the host in microbial infections, but can be protective or detrimental in sterile inflammation. This unpredictable nature of dendritic cells is a reflection of the diverse and complex pathogenesis of sterile inflammatory responses. Drugs form a major group of stimuli for tissue injury and, in turn, a sterile inflammatory response. Although many studies have examined the role of dendritic cells in pathogenic infections, their function in drug related organ toxicity is very limited. Here, with a brief introduction of sterile inflammatory response, we review the reported findings about the dendritic cell role in drug induced toxicity