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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Oral Microbiol. 2017 Oct 9;33(1):13–21. doi: 10.1111/omi.12195

Figure 1.

Figure 1

DCs activate T cells and innate immune response in periodontal disease. Immature DCs capture oral bacteria, which induces migration to lymph nodes and maturation. Mature DCs can attract neutrophils and macrophage to sites of inflammation through IL-8 or TNF-α and present bacterial antigen to lymphocytes. DCs in turn may stimulate naïve T cells to differentiate along several pathways including Th1, Th17, Th2 and Treg cells. Cytokines produced by Th1 and Th17 cells may up-regulate TNF-α and IL-1β and cause greater MMP and RANKL expression, more osteoclast formation and more bone resorption. Th2 and Tregs have the opposite effect and may restrain inflammatory cytokine production to limit bone loss.