Diversity of dendritic cells generated from umbilical cord or adult peripheral blood precursors

Following the discovery of methods to generate large numbers of specific dendritic cells (DCs) ex vivo, the possibility of exploiting these cells in immunotherapeutic strategies will become a reality. It seems to be rationally to analyse the influence of the precursor source for further features and applications.

For the needs of the given project DCs were derived from precursors derived from adult peripheral blood (APB) and umbilical cord blood (UCB). During some expansions of UCB CD34+ cells were separated giving non-adherent DCs (NA-DCs) or adherent DCs (A-DCs), whereas DCs derived from UCB precursors without separation gave rise to All-DCs. DC subpopulations were stimulated by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) or interferon- (IFN-), and afterwards the morphology, phenotype, and stimulatory properties were analysed.

Our findings demonstrated that DCs generated from APB and UCB precursors were not equivalent and exhibited opposite features when expanded in comparable conditions. Additionally, all three subpopulations of UCB-derived DCs presented functional dissimilarities. Based on our results we concluded that the precursor source and the composition of media must be considered as crucial to the success of potential therapeutic application.