Accelerated but transient generation of cytotoxic T cells by cross-presenting liver sinusoidal endothelial cells

Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC), the most abundant non-parenchymal cell population in the liver, efficiently take up soluble antigens coming from the intestinal tract and the systemic circulation. LSEC cross-present these antigens to CD8 T cells, thereby inducing non-functional memory-like CD8 T cells under non-inflammatory conditions. Here we compared the early steps of CD8 T cell priming by LSEC to classical effector T cell generation by matured dendritic cells (DC). Twenty-four hours after begin of in vitro coculture LSEC-primed CD8 T cells showed high expression levels of Granzyme B, which was not…