We focus our discussion on the unique cell lineage that is nowadays called conventional or classical DCs (cDCs) (see the sidebar titled Terms and Definitions). Here, we review some of the principles of DC biology, referring back to historical notions while incorporating recent advances in our understanding of cell origin, diversity, and function. At the same time, a myriad of cells have been grouped under the DC umbrella, generating confusion as to what constitutes bona fide DCs and how to describe their functional attributes and the changes they undergo during their life span ( Figure 1). Since their discovery by Ralph Steinman & Zanvil Cohn ( 1) almost 50 years ago, more than 90,000 publications referring to dendritic cells have been deposited in PubMed, underscoring the enormous progress in the field. Found in all mammalian tissues, dendritic cells (DCs) are sentinel leukocytes that play a key role in the initiation and regulation of adaptive immune responses, as well as in innate immunity.
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