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Since their discovery, dendritic cells (DC) have been a focus of extensive research due to their unique ability to skew T cell differentiation1. Over the past several decades, an extensive research effort has sought to define the various DC subsets and their function during tumor progression and immunity 2. DCs are composed of heterogeneous cell populations that differ from each other in their pattern-recognition receptors, tissue distribution, and migratory and antigen presentation capabilities3,4,5. Compared to other DC subsets, monocyte-derived DC (MoDC) are far more abundant in tumors and can be easily generated from circulating or tumor-infiltrating monocytes6,7. Therefore, many clinical trials seeking to take advantage of their relative prevalence are based on in vivo and ex vivo manipulation of autologous MoDC in order to elicit T cell immunity 8,9.
Similarly, DC-based vaccination of experimental tumor models requires 2-3 serial injections, 5-7 days apart, of 1-2 x 106 activated DC pulsed with tumor antigens. Therefore, to achieve this large number of DC, most mouse studies have primarily used MoDC cultured from bone marrow (BM) precursors in GM-CSF for 7-9 days (IL-4 is not needed in the mouse setting)10,11. Nonetheless, given that GM-CSF knockout mice have overall normal DC compartment 12,13, and given the mixed populations obtained from that culture,14 the physiological relevance of these DC has been called into question.
Alternatively, DC may be routinely isolated from spleen cells. However, DC comprise only about 0.3-0.8% of total spleen cells (resulting in approximately 7 x 105 DC/spleen), and of these cells, only CD103+ DC and MoDC can migrate back to lymphoid organs. Since MoDCs comprise approximately 10-15% of splenic DC populations15,16, most isolation protocols yield approximately 1 x 105 MoDC per spleen. Expansion of MoDC can be achieved by injecting transfected B16 cells that secrete GM-CSF, resulting in a 100-fold increase in splenic MoDC17. However, the use of MoDC for developing DC vaccines is limited since this procedure cannot be done in humans and the obtained MoDC are already highly activated.
In addition to obtaining adequate numbers of DC, another challenge for developing effective DC vaccines against autologous cancer cells involves the lack of sufficient danger signals in the tumor setting to fully activate DC. Induction of co-stimulatory signals is usually achieved through activation of pattern-recognition receptors (PRR), or c-type lectin signaling pathways18,19,20,21. A further approach for activating DC exploits their ability to take up antigens through interactions with surface Fcγ receptors (FcγR). Indeed, a number of important manuscripts have shown that injection of MoDC from BM precursors activated with tumor-IgG IC can prevent tumor growth in prophylactic settings, and can lead to the eradication of established tumors22,23.
In two recent papers, Carmi et al. discovered that in contrast to BMDC and spleen DC, MoDC from the blood and tumors cannot respond to IgG IC without additional stimuli. This was found to be due to the presence of high intracellular levels of tyrosine phosphatases regulating FcγR signaling24,25. By defining a critical checkpoint in DC, this work provided an important insight into the requirements for successful DC-based vaccination. The requirement for additional stimuli to enable FcγR signaling, and presumably signaling from other lectin receptors utilizing a similar phosphorylation cascade, thus underscores the need for avoiding the priming of DC during their isolation.
Therefore, the present protocol describes the isolation of MoDC from blood and tumors, which differ markedly from BM and spleen DC, and highlights precautions worth considering during the process.