Figure 1.

CD40/CD40L axis in activated dendritic cells. CD40/CD40L axis is implicated in many downstream pathways in activated dendritic cells that are essential for its function. CD40L induces the activation of dendritic cells through its binding to CD40. This activation requires the recruitment of the TRAFs family. This leads in turn to the activation of several pathways, such as STAT3, NF-κB, and MKKs. They are all mostly involved in many gene expressions that include cell survival, cell adhesion as well as procoagulant activity and pro-inflammatory cytokines production. On the other side, other pathways that go through different receptors influence DC activity, among them TNF-α inducing mostly an pro-atherogenic activity or IL-10 receptor that can enhance an opposite function and therefore promote an anti-atherogenic activity in DC.