Characterising the metabolic requirements of the newly-identified DC3 subset

Dendritic cells play a key role in tumour-immune surveillance by their ability to engage the adaptive immune response. Multiple subtypes of DC have been identified in humans: (i) classical dendritic cell type 1 (cDC1), known to stimulate CD8+ T-cell responses; (ii) classical dendritic cell type 2 (cDC2), activator of CD4+ T-cells and, more recently, (iii) DC3, with a unique ability to prime tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM). The infiltration of TRMs in breast cancer has been associated with a favourable prognosis, implicating DC3s in the anti-tumour immune response. It is known that the metabolism of cDC1 and cDC2 are differentially regulated to support their different functions, here we aim to investigate the metabolism of DC3 and its functional implications.