Transcriptome profile of mouse lung dendritic cell subsets and macrophages.

Dendritic cell (DC) are critical initiators and regulators of immunity to pathogens, vaccines, tumors and tolerance to self. Mouse and human dendritic cells (DCs) are comprised of functionally specialized subsets, but precise interspecies correlation is currently incomplete and hampers the full translation of murine findings to human DC-based clinical therapies. In this study, we show that murine lung and gut lamina propria CD11b+ DC populations are comprised of two subsets: FLT3- and IRF4-dependent CD24+CD64- DCs and contaminating CSF-1R-dependent CD24-CD64+ macrophages. CD11b+CD24+CD64- DCs are instrumental in inducing Th17 cell immune response in the steady state and upon Aspergillus fumigatus challenge. We also identified human CD1c+CD11b+ DCs as the functional homologue of mouse mucosal CD11b+ DCs. Our findings highlight the conservation of key immune functions across species and aid the translation of murine studies to human DC immunobiology. The data for the associated human studies have been stored within GSE35459.