Cross-presentation of IgG-containing immune complexes (ICs) is an important means by which dendritic cells (DCs) activate CD8 + T cells, yet it proceeds by an incompletely understood mechanism. We show that monocyte-derived CD8 − CD11b+ DCs require the neonatal Fc receptor for IgG (FcRn) to conduct cross-presentation of IgG ICs. Consequently, in the absence of FcRn, Fcγ receptor (FcγR)-mediated antigen uptake fails to initiate cross-presentation. FcRn is shown to regulate the intracellular sorting of IgG ICs to the proper destination for such cross-presentation to occur. We demonstrate that FcRn traps antigen and protects it from degradation within an acidic loading compartment in association with the rapid recruitment of key components of the phagosome-to-cytosol crosspresentation machinery. This unique mechanism thus enables cross-presentation to evolve from an atypically acidic loading compartment. FcRn-driven cross-presentation is further shown to control cross-priming of CD8 + T-cell responses in vivo such that during chronic inflammation, FcRn deficiency results in inadequate induction of CD8 + T cells. These studies thus demonstrate that crosspresentation in CD8 − CD11b+ DCs requires a two-step mechanism that involves FcγR-mediated internalization and FcRn-directed intracellular sorting of IgG ICs. Given the centrality of FcRn in controlling cross-presentation, these studies lay the foundation for a unique means to therapeutically manipulate CD8 + T-cell responses.

Shade et al. demonstrate the requirement for IgE glycosylation in allergic reactions.

SUMMARY The plasma membrane and all membrane-bound organelles except for the Golgi and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are equipped with pattern-recognition molecules to sense microbes or their products and induce innate immunity for host defense. Here, we report that inositol-requiring-1α (IRE1α), an ER protein that signals in the unfolded protein response (UPR), is activated to induce inflammation by binding a portion of cholera toxin as it co-opts the ER to cause disease. Other known UPR transducers, including the IRE1α-dependent transcription factor XBP1, are dispensable for this signaling. The inflammatory response depends instead on the RNase activity of IRE1α to degrade endogenous mRNA, a process termed regulated IRE1α-dependent decay (RIDD) of mRNA. The mRNA fragments produced engage retinoic-acid inducible gene 1 (RIG-I), a cyto-solic sensor of RNA viruses, to activate NF-κB and interferon pathways. We propose IRE1α provides for a generalized mechanism of innate immune surveillance originating within the ER lumen.