Dendritic cell
specialized cells of the hematopoietic system with branch-like extensions
A dendritic cell (DC) is an antigen-presenting cell (also known as an accessory cell) of the mammalian immune system. A dendritic cell's function is to process antigen material and present it on the cell surface to the T cells of the immune system. They act as messengers between the innate and adaptive immune systems.
Dendritic cells are present in tissues that are in contact with the body's external environment, such as the skin, and the inner lining of the nose, lungs, stomach and intestines. They can also be found in an immature and mature state in the blood. Once activated, they migrate to the lymph nodes, where they interact with T cells and B cells to initiate and shape the adaptive immune response. At certain development stages they grow branched projections, the dendrites, that give the cell its name (δένδρον or déndron being Greek for 'tree'). While similar in appearance to the dendrites of neurons, these are structures distinct from them. Immature dendritic cells are also called veiled cells, as they possess large cytoplasmic 'veils' rather than dendrites.
History
Dendritic cells were first described by Paul Langerhans (hence Langerhans cells) in the late nineteenth century.
“Dendritic cell” enters the record as specialized cells of the hematopoietic system with branch-like extensions. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dendritic, cell and specialized can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q506253. The Library of Congress control number is sh91001535. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dendritic cell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.