Fig. 1

The fate of dendritic cells (DCs) during sepsis. The upper left panel shows the different subsets of DCs in homeostasis conditions. The upper right panel shows the changes in DCs during sepsis, including number reduction of normal subsets, alteration in subsets, and functional defects of altered subsets. The lower panel shows three aspects of DC dysfunction in a septic state, including the expression of surface molecules, cytokine secretion, and antigen presentation capacity. These changes will lead to the formation of an immunosuppressive environment, which is closely associated with increased mortality and susceptibility to secondary infections in patients with sepsis. DCs, dendritic cells; cDCs, classical or conventional DCs; pDCs, plasmacytoid dendritic cells; FDCs, follicular dendritic cells; MHC, major histocompatibility complex; MHC-II, MHC class II; HLA-DR, human leukocyte antigen-DR; IL, interleukin; IFN, interferon; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; TGF, transforming growth factor; Tregs, regulatory T cells; Th, T helper cells