Objective To explore the distribution of dendritic cells(DCs) and the expression of adhesion molecules in rat kidney with unilateral ureteral obstruction(UUO)，as well as the regulatory effect of anti-P-selectin lectin-EGF domain monoclonal antibody (PsL-EGFmAb) on adhesion， maturation and function of human DCs cultured in vitro. Methods UUO rat models were established， which were divided into sham group(n=6)，untreated group(n=18)and treated group with PsL-EGFmAb(n=18). DCs were analyzed with Axioplan 2 microscopy， while P-selectin being observed by immunohistochemistry. CD34+ stem cells were isolated from cord blood and cultured in 20%IMDM medium with SCF， GM-CSF， TGF-β1， Flt-3L and TNF-α in vitro. During development， PsL-EGFmAb was added and IL-10 served as control. FACS was performed to detect the expression of HLA-DR， CD1a， CD11c， CD54，CD83， CD80， CD86， CD209 (DC-SIGN) and CD62-P，-E，-L(P-，E-，L-selectin) on DCs. RT-PCR was performed to detect the expression of NF-κB P50， P65 mRNA. MLR was performed to detect the stimulatory effect of DCs on T cell proliferation and ELISA to determine IL-12p70 amount. Results Comparing with Sham group， the expression of P-selectin was up-regulated among tubulointerstitium mainly on renal tubular epithelial cell after unilateral ureteral obstruction on day 1， while CD1a+CD80+DCs being also found in renal interstitium. The expression of P-selectin and CD1a+CD80+DCs was increased evidently on day 7， and correlated with the degree of renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis closely. However， these changes became less conspicuous in rat treated with PsL-EGFmAb. In vitro experiment showed on day 5 after cultured with the induction of TNF-α， immature DCs highly expressed C-type lectin DC-SIGN of pattern recognition receptors； the expression of co-stimulatory molecules such as CD11c，CD83，CD80 and CD86 on mature DCs was up-regulated in paralleling with the mRNA level of NF-κB；the secretion of IL-12 was enhanced， as well as displaying the features of antigen-presenting cells with a higher ability to induce proliferation of T lymphocytes in vitro. In addition， L-selectin expressed highly on immature DCs， but lowly on mature DCs， neither of two DCs expressed P- and E-selectin. Compared with the IL-10 treated group， PsL-EGFmAb had an inhibitory effect on DC-SIGN of DCs with down-regulating the mRNA level of NF-κB. PsL-EGFmAb could also inhibited CD11c， CD83， CD80， CD86 expression， reduced secretion of IL-12， and inhibited T cell proliferation stimulated by DCs in vitro. Conclusion DCs may play a critical role on initiating the inflammatory injury of renal tubulointerstitium， and the inhibitory effect of PsL-EGFmAb on DC maturation and function correlated with the inhibition of DC-SIGN， which is mainly mediated through NF-κB signaling pathway.