IFN regulation and functions in myeloid dendritic cells

A central issue in dendritic cells (DC) biology is to understand how type I IFNs modulate the immuno-regulatory properties of DC. In this review I will address this issue in light of the recent experimental evidence on the expression and function of these cytokines in myeloid DC. This knowledge may have important therapeutic implications in infectious and neoplastic diseases and open new perspectives in the use of IFNs as vaccine adjuvants and in the development of DC-based vaccines.