ITGAX and viral infectious disease: To determine whether direct virus infection could play a role in pDC death, we stained lymph node cell suspensions with antibodies and simultaneously sorted pDC as Live/Dead− Lineage− HLA-DR+ CD123+ CD11c− cells and mDC as Live/Dead− Lineage− HLA-DR++ CD123− CD11c+[13] to at least 95% purity (Figure 5C).