title: Development of dendritic cells in culture from human and murine thymic precursor cells.
abstract: The earliest T-precursor population in the adult murine thymus can give rise to dendritic cells (DC) in culture if stimulated with a cocktail of cytokines that includes interleukin (IL)-3, but not with cytokine mixes based on granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), normally used to generate myeloid-derived DC. This and other evidence led to the proposal that two different lineages of DC exist, one lymphoid-related and the other myeloid-related. To determine whether this selective response to cytokines was restricted to murine DC, early human thymic T-precursors were isolated and their capacity to generate DC in response to various cytokines directly compared to their murine counterparts. In contrast to cultures of murine thymic precursors, CD34+CD1a- lineage marker negative (Lin-) precursor cells from the human thymus proliferated and generated DC with both the IL-3-containing cytokine mix lacking GM-CSF and with GM-CSF based cytokine mixes. These CD34+CD1a-Lin- human precursor cells also gave rise to NK cells under appropriate culture conditions, but produced no granulocyte, monocyte, eosinophil, megakaryocyte or erythroid cells in standard soft-agar colony-forming cell assays. Thus, although apparently lymphoid-restricted, the human thymic DC precursors responded to the myeloid factor GM-CSF as well as to the cytokines selective for murine lymphoid-related DC.
authors: The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Post Office Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Australia.
authors: K A
authors: KA
authors: Kelly
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Lucas
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Hochrein
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Metcalf
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Wu
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Shortman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002455:Cell Division; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007377:Interleukin-3 / Q000494:pharmacology; D007700:Kinetics; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010641:Phenotype; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D007377:Interleukin-3; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor