Massive ex vivo generation of functional dendritic cells from mobilized CD34+ blood progenitors for anticancer therapy.
We report that blood cell autografts, collected by single leukapheresis in cancer patients (n = 11) at the time of mobilization of hematopoietic progenitors into peripheral blood following anticancer therapy with high-dose cyclophosphamide (HD-CTX) plus interleukin-3 (IL-3) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF/filgrastim), comprise 1.98 +/- 0.39 x 10(5)/kg (mean +/- SE) CD34+ progenitors of dendritic cells (DCs). This number corresponds to 140-fold more progenitors than in a control autograft collected in the steady state. DCs derived from mobilized CD34+ cells, morphologically and immunophenotypically undistinguishable from skin Langerhans cells and DCs from bone marrow and cord blood CD34+ cells, are shown to be powerful stimulators of allogeneic T cell proliferation in primary MLR and of autologous HLA-DR-restricted CD4+ T cell proliferation in response to presentation of xenogenic antigens. We show that the GM-CSF-plus-TNF-alpha-dependent ex vivo generation of DCs from mobilized CD34+ cells is 2.5-fold enhanced by flk-2/flt-3 ligand or c-kit ligand (stem cell factor) and five-fold enhanced by a combination of these growth factors. In addition, the optimal serum for the generation of DCs is autologous HD-CTX recovery-phase serum rather than fetal calf serum (FCS) or steady-state human serum, which are clinically inadequate and ineffective, respectively. In practice, the stimulation of CD34+ cells in a blood cell autograft (15.75 +/- 2.46 x 10(6)/kg) provided by the above four growth factors should permit ex vivo generation of approximately 40 x 10(9) DCs in an adult patient. These new findings provide advantageous tools for the large-scale generation of DCs that are potentially usable for clinical protocols of immunotherapy or vaccination in patients undergoing cancer treatment.
Cristina Gandini Transplantation Unit, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy.
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Siena
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Di Nicola
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Bregni
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Mortarini
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Anichini
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Lombardi
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Ravagnani
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Parmiani
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Gianni
D000328:Adult; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000032:analysis*; D002469:Cell Separation; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D007377:Interleukin-3 / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007700:Kinetics; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology
D018952:Antigens, CD34; D007377:Interleukin-3; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; D003520:Cyclophosphamide