Phenotypical and functional characterization of non-human primateAotusspp. dendritic cells and their use as a tool for characterizing immune response to protein antigens

• Published in: Vaccine Vol. 23; no. 26; p. 3386
• Main Authors: Gabriela, Delgado, Carlos, Parra-López, Clara, Spinel, Elkin, Patarroyo Manuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Limited 16-05-2005
• Subjects: Animal models; Animals; Cytokines; Experiments; Flow cytometry; Immune response; Immune system; Lymphocytes; Monkeys & apes; Parasites; Primates; Vaccines; Grand Island
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2005.01.155

A population of cells exhibiting bona fide dendritic cell (DC) morphological and functional characteristics was obtained by treatingAotusspp. monocytes with human IL-4 and GM-CSF.Although the purity of mature DCs was relatively lowIL-4/GM-CSF-treated monocytes (hereafter calledAotusspp. DCs) down-regulated CD14 and up-regulated discrete levels of CD80, MHC-Class II and CD1b molecules in response to different maturation stimuli.Aotusspp. DCs generated a potent allogeneic in vitro response evidenced in mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) where DCs were 2- to 10-fold more efficient than peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).Aotusspp. DC ability to boost T-cells or priming naive T-cells in vivo was proved by vaccinatingAotusspp. with autologous DCs pulsed with tetanus toxoid (TT). A single dose of TT-pulsed DCs was sufficient to increase cellular response to TT in these experiments as assessed by lymphoproliferation and cytokine production. SinceAotusspp. represents a suitable animal model for evaluating anti-Plasmodium falciparummalaria vaccine, the results shown here suggest that using antigen-pulsedAotusspp. DCs as vaccines might lead to identifying new prospects for malarial vaccines unidentified to date because they are being formulated in less efficient adjuvants.