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Each microenvironment is controlled by a specific set of regulatory elements that have to be finely and constantly tuned to maintain local homeostasis. These environments could be site specific, such as the gut environment, or induced by chronic exposure to microbes. Various populations of dendritic cells are central to the orchestration of this control. In this review, we discuss some new findings associating dendritic cells from defined compartments with the induction and control of regulatory T cells in the context of exposure to both commensal and pathogenic microbes.

The immune system of the gastrointestinal tract must be tightly regulated to limit pathologic responses towards innocuous antigens while simultaneously allowing for rapid development of effector responses against invading pathogens. Highly specialized antigen-presenting cell (APC) subsets present in the gut play a dominant role in balancing these seemingly disparate functions. In this review, we discuss new findings associated with the function of gut APCs and particularly the contextual role of these cells in both establishing tolerance to orally acquired antigens in the steady state and regulating acute inflammation during infection.