This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Freer, G. Articles by Bendinelli, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Freer, G. Articles by Bendinelli, M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, October 2005, p. 1202-1208, Vol. 12, No. 10
1071-412X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CDLI.12.10.1202-1208.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Generation of Feline Dendritic Cells Derived from Peripheral Blood Monocytes for In Vivo Use

Giulia Freer,^* Donatella Matteucci, Paola Mazzetti, Leonia Bozzacco, and Mauro Bendinelli

Retrovirus Center and Virology Section, Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Pisa, Via Del Brennero 2, I-56127 Pisa, Italy

Received 3 June 2005/ Returned for modification 13 July 2005/ Accepted 26 July 2005

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells that can prime T cells and polarize the cellular immune response. Because Th1-type immune responses have been connected to success in combating viral infection, a promising therapeutic application of DCs would be their differentiation in vitro and injection back into the host to boost an immune response in infected animals. This study was aimed both at developing a protocol to cultivate feline DCs in the absence of exogenous proteins for their use in vivo and at investigating what might be the most appropriate stimulus to induce their maturation in vitro and finding correlates of maturation. We generated DCs from peripheral blood monocytes in the presence of feline interleukin-4 and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, and after 5 days their maturation was induced with either lipopolysaccharide, human recombinant tumor necrosis factor alpha, poly(I:C), or activated feline platelets. After 48 h, their CD14, CD1a, major histocompatibility complex class II, and B7.1 surface expression was analyzed in parallel with their ability to uptake antigen or prime a mixed leukocyte reaction. The results presented show that feline DCs cultured in autologous plasma differentiate and are able to mature in the presence of stimuli similar to the ones currently used for other species. The present work sets the grounds for future use of DCs obtained by the protocol described for in vivo vaccination and immunotherapy of feline immunodeficiency virus-infected cats.

G.F. and D.M. contributed equally to this work.