Development of dendritic cells in culture from human and murine thymic precursor cells

Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2001 Feb;47(1):43-54.

Abstract

The earliest T-precursor population in the adult murine thymus can give rise to dendritic cells (DC) in culture if stimulated with a cocktail of cytokines that includes interleukin (IL)-3, but not with cytokine mixes based on granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), normally used to generate myeloid-derived DC. This and other evidence led to the proposal that two different lineages of DC exist, one lymphoid-related and the other myeloid-related. To determine whether this selective response to cytokines was restricted to murine DC, early human thymic T-precursors were isolated and their capacity to generate DC in response to various cytokines directly compared to their murine counterparts. In contrast to cultures of murine thymic precursors, CD34+CD1a- lineage marker negative (Lin-) precursor cells from the human thymus proliferated and generated DC with both the IL-3-containing cytokine mix lacking GM-CSF and with GM-CSF based cytokine mixes. These CD34+CD1a-Lin- human precursor cells also gave rise to NK cells under appropriate culture conditions, but produced no granulocyte, monocyte, eosinophil, megakaryocyte or erythroid cells in standard soft-agar colony-forming cell assays. Thus, although apparently lymphoid-restricted, the human thymic DC precursors responded to the myeloid factor GM-CSF as well as to the cytokines selective for murine lymphoid-related DC.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, CD / analysis
  • Cell Culture Techniques / methods
  • Cell Division
  • Cell Membrane / metabolism
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Dendritic Cells / cytology*
  • Dendritic Cells / immunology
  • Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / pharmacology
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / immunology
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Interleukin-3 / pharmacology
  • Kinetics
  • Lymphocytes / cytology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Phenotype
  • T-Lymphocytes / cytology
  • Thymus Gland / cytology*
  • Thymus Gland / immunology

Substances

  • Antigens, CD
  • Interleukin-3
  • Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor