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Effective priming of T cell responses depends on cognate interactions between naive T cells and professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs). This contact is the result of highly coordinated migration processes, in which the chemokine receptor CCR7 and its ligands, CCL19 and CCL21, play a central role. We used the murine Listeria monocytogenes infection model to characterize the role of the CCR7/CCR7 ligand system in the generation of T cell responses during bacterial infection. We demonstrate that efficient priming of naive major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class Ia–restricted CD8+ T cells requires CCR7. In contrast, MHC class Ib–restricted CD8+ T cells and MHC class II–restricted CD4+ T cells seem to be less dependent on CCR7; memory T cell responses are independent of CCR7. Infection experiments with bone marrow chimeras or mice reconstituted with purified T cell populations indicate that CCR7 has to be expressed on CD8+ T cells and professional APCs to promote efficient MHC class Ia–restricted T cell priming. Thus, different T cell subtypes and maturation stages have discrete requirements for CCR7.

Antigen-pulsed dendritic cells (DCs) are used as natural adjuvants for vaccination, but the factors that influence the efficacy of this treatment are poorly understood. We investigated the parameters that affect the migration of subcutaneously injected mouse-mature DCs to the draining lymph node. We found that the efficiency of DC migration varied with the number of injected DCs and that CCR7+/+ DCs migrating to the draining lymph node, but not CCR7−/− DCs that failed to do so, efficiently induced a rapid increase in lymph node cellularity, which was observed before the onset of T cell proliferation. We also report that DC migration could be increased up to 10-fold by preinjection of inflammatory cytokines that increased the expression of the CCR7 ligand CCL21 in lymphatic endothelial cells. The magnitude and quality of CD4+ T cell response was proportional to the number of antigen-carrying DCs that reached the lymph node and could be boosted up to 40-fold by preinjection of tumor necrosis factor that conditioned the tissue for increased DC migration. These results indicate that DC number and tissue inflammation are critical parameters for DC-based vaccination.

We recently demonstrated that gene-targeted disruption of the C5a anaphylatoxin receptor prevented lung injury in immune complex–mediated inflammation. In this study, we compare the effect of C5aR deficiency in immune complex–induced inflammation in the peritoneal cavity and skin with the results derived from our immune complex alveolitis model. C5aR- deficient mice exhibit decreased migration of neutrophils and decreased levels of TNF-α and interleukin 6 in the peritoneal reverse passive Arthus reaction compared to their wild-type littermates. In the reverse passive Arthus reaction in the skin the C5aR was also required for the full expression of neutrophil influx and edema formation; C5aR-deficient mice showed reduced neutrophil migration and microvascular permeability changes. In contrast to our studies in immune complex–induced lung inflammation, C5aR deficiency does not completely prevent injury in the peritoneal cavity and skin. These data indicate a dominant role for the C5aR and its ligand in the reverse passive Arthus reaction in the lung and a synergistic role together with other inflammatory mediators in immune complex–mediated peritonitis and skin injury.