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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: OBJECTIVE, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Animals, Antigen Presentation, Antigen-Presenting Cells, Cells, Cultured, Endocytosis, Flow Cytometry, Gene Expression Regulation, HLA-DR Antigens, Histocompatibility Antigens Class II, Humans, Interferon-gamma, Male, Ovalbumin, Pancreatic Stellate Cells, Rats, Rats, Wistar, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Transcription, Genetic.
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Do pancreatic stellate cells exhibit features of antigen-presenting cells? Context: Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules are expressed on professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs), and pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) have endocytic and phagocytic functions and play a role in the immune responses of the pancreas. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether PSCs exhibit features of APCs. Rat and human PSCs were cultured with interferon-γ (IFN-γ) or an exogenous antigen, ovalbumin (OVA), and they were analyzed for expression of MHC II molecules by flow cytometry and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The cells simulated with IFN-γ expressed very little or no MHC class II molecules or human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR at the transcriptional level. Stimulation with IFN-γ failed to induce expression of MHC class II molecules and HLA-DR molecules according to the results of flow cytometry. Dual-color flow cytometric analysis showed that approximately 95% of the PSCs took up OVA; however, none of the cells that took up OVA expressed MHC class II molecules or HLA-DR molecules.
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Pancreatic stellate cells do not seem to be responsible for the MHC class II-dependent pathway of antigen presentation, suggesting that PSCs do not play a role in adaptive immunity as APCs. Final Decision: no