Development of Mouse Dendritic Cells from Lineage‐Negative c‐kit

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) are essential for the presentation of antigens in the primary immune response. To examine the generation of DCs from hemopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow (BM), lineage-negative (Lin-)/CD71- bone marrow cells (BMCs) from C57BL/6 mice were separated into major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class Ihigh/ c-kit(low) and MHC class Ihigh/c-kit(low)(phenotypically c-kit-negative, but c-kit message only detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction) populations. A large number of cells with the morphological, phenotypical, and functional characteristics of DCs was generated from both c-kit(low) and c-kit(low) populations when cultured with a combination of cytokines (GM-CSF, tumor necrosis factor-a [TNF-a], interleukin 7 [IL-7], IL-3, stem cell factor [SCF], and flt3 ligand); the cytokine combination studies revealed that SCF and IL-3 in addition to GM-CSF and TNF-a are essential for DCs to be generated from these primitive populations. To our surprise most (>80%) generated cells expressed high levels of DC surface markers such as DEC205 and MHC class II, and they were potent stimulators in the primary allogeneic T cell activation. The development of DCs from c-kit(