Dynamic imaging of experimental Leishmania donovani-induced hepatic granulomas detects kupffer cell-restricted antigen presentation to antigen-specific CD8+ T cells

Kupffer cells (kcs) represent the major phagocytic population within the liver and provide an intracellular niche for the survival of a number of important human pathogens. although kcs have been extensively studied in vitro,little is known of their in vivo response to infection and their capacity to directly interact with antigen-specific cd8+ t cells. here,using a combination of approaches including whole mount and thin section confocal microscopy,adoptive cell transfer and intravital 2-photon microscopy,we demonstrate that kcs represent the only detectable population of mononuclear phagocytes within granulomas induced by leishmania donovani infection that are capable of presenting parasite-derived peptide to effector cd8+ t cells. this restriction of antigen presentation to kcs within the leishmania granuloma has important implications for the identification of new candidate vaccine antigens and for the design of novel immuno-therapeutic interventions. © 2010 beattie et al.