Elodie Segura PhD

Elodie Segura, Ph.D., Research Associate at the Institut Curie in Paris. Dr. Segura presented basic research Monday that she and colleagues have been conducting at the Curie Institute as part of the ACR session Regulatory Inflammatory Dendritic Cells. Dendritic cells are key regulators of the immune system that act as antigen-presenting cells capable of activating naïve T cells and stimulating the development and differentiation of B cells. Dr. Segura said that dendritic cell precursors originate in the bone marrow and give rise to resident dendritic cells in lymph nodes and migratory dendritic cells in the skin.

Resident and migratory dendritic cells are subsets of dendritic cells identified in mice that differ in phenotype and functional properties. During inflammation, an inflammatory dendritic cell subtype arises that differs from monocytes recruited to the site of inflammation.

Dr. Segura and her colleagues analyzed dendritic cells in human synovial fluid and tumor ascites. Human arthritic synovial fluid and tumor ascites contain cells displaying typical dendritic cell morphology and function, while inflammatory dendritic cells have a phenotype that differs from the typical dendritic cells, she said.