Follicular dendritic cells: origin, function, and different disease-associated patterns

Follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) are a specialized type of antigen-presenting dendritic cells that are largely restricted to lymphoid follicles. They form dense three-dimensional meshwork patterns within benign follicles, which maintain the follicular architecture. The FDC function is to bind and retain antigens by linking to complement and immune complexes and then present these antigens to germinal center B cells that start the secondary immune response. FDCs aid in the rescue of bound B cells from apoptosis, and induce the differentiation of B cells into long-term memory B cell clones or plasma cells. We will discuss the different patterns of the FDC meshwork observed in different types of reactive and neoplastic disorders, which may be due to underlying different roles that FDCs may play in these disorders and whether changes in the architecture of the FDC meshwork can be useful in routine diagnostic practice or have a prognostic value.

Rezk SA, Nathwani BN, Zhao X, Weiss LM. Follicular dendritic cells: origin,function, and different disease-associated patterns. Hum Pathol. 2013Jun;44(6):937-50.

FDC patterns in reactive and neoplastic disorders highlighted by CD21 immunostaining, from Rezk et al, 2013.