Generation and characterization of a novel hematopoietic progenitor cell line with DC differentiation potential.
Rathinam C., Sauer M., Ghosh A., Rudolph C., Hegazy A., Schlegelberger B., Welte K., Klein C.
Studies of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-derived dendritic cells (DCs) are often limited by the rarity of HSC. To facilitate the study of DCs, we have generated a novel cell line (CR1) by retroviral Notch(IC) gene transfer into Sca1(+)ckit(+)lin- HSC. CR1 cells proliferated in vitro in the presence of recombinant interleukin-3. They maintained an immature progenitor cell phenotype and an intact karyotype. In the presence of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor or Flt3L, CR1 cells differentiated into myeloid and plasmacytoid DCs, respectively. Functionally, CR1 cells were comparable to primary bone-marrow-derived DCs with respect to Toll-like-receptor-mediated maturation, cytokine release and capacity to induce effective antitumor immunity. CR1 cells thus provide an elegant new cellular tool to study DC development, function and preclinical DC-based immunotherapies.