title: Granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor is an anti-apoptotic cytokine for thymic dendritic cells and a significant modulator of their accessory function.
abstract: Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a growth-promoting factor for myeloid-derived dendritic cells (DC) but not for lymphoid DC. The data about its effect on thymic DC (TDC), which are both of lymphoid and myeloid origin, are very scarce. Using an in vitro model, we demonstrated in this work that GM-CSF significantly increased the survival of rat TDC in culture by inhibiting their apoptosis and the effect correlated with up-regulation of Bcl-2 expression. GM-CSF also stimulated differentiation and maturation of TDC as judged by higher expression of MHC class I and II molecules, CD54, CD80 and CD86. These changes correlated with stronger stimulatory activity of GM-CSF-pulsed TDC in syngeneic thymocyte proliferation assay and MLR. The stimulatory potential of TDC was further increased when thymocytes were cultivated with an anti-alphabeta TCR (R73) monoclonal antibody (mAb). The influence of unstimulated TDC on proliferation of thymocytes was inhibited by anti-CD86 but not anti-CD80 mAb, whereas in cultures with GM-CSF-treated TDC both mAbs exerted an additive blocking effect. After separation of TDC on CD11b(+) and CD11b(-) we demonstrated that GM-CSF inhibited apoptosis and potentiated accessory activity of both TDC subsets independently of the myeloid marker expression. Cummulatively, our results suggest that GM-CSF is one of the regulatory cytokine involved in survival, maturation, differentiation and accessory function of TDC.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Research, Military Medical Academy, Crnotravska 17, 11002 Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
authors.forename: Sasa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vasilijić
authors.forename: Miodrag
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colić
authors.forename: Dragana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vucević
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000187:drug effects; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005805:Genes, MHC Class I / Q000187:drug effects; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II / Q000187:drug effects; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D018189:Immunomagnetic Separation; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D008297:Male; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor