title: Intracerebral granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor induces functionally competent dendritic cells in the mouse brain.
abstract: Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a hematopoietic growth factor and a proinflammatory cytokine. While GM-CSF is lacking in normal brain tissue, it is expressed under pathological conditions and correlates with the presence of dendritic cells (DC). However, the role of GM-CSF for the onset of immune responses in the brain is still unclear. To analyze the role of GM-CSF for the induction and functional activity of immune cells in the brain, we performed chronic intracerebroventricular administration of GM-CSF to the brains of adult mice. After GM-CSF administration, intracerebral leukocytes (ICL) were characterized by means of flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and an ex vivo functional assay. GM-CSF treatment significantly increased the number of leukocytes expressing high levels of CD45, indicative of peripheral, blood-derived cells. The infiltrating cells were preferentially DC of the myeloid lineage (CD45(high) CD11c+ CD11b+) with an activated phenotype characterized by upregulated expression of MHCII and the costimulatory ligand CD80. Furthermore, DC from GM-CSF treated mice were fully competent to activate naive allogeneic T cells in a mixed leukocyte reaction. In contrast, intracerebroventricular IFN-gamma administration stimulated MHCII expression on cells resembling resident microglia, but did not induce comparable presence of DC. Taken together, intracerebroventricular GM-CSF treatment results in high numbers of DC in the brain. Moreover, these GM-CSF-induced DC display an activated phenotype and exhibit the capacity to act as fully competent DC even without a further inflammatory stimulus.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene, Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany. mausberg@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: Anne Kathrin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mausberg
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jander
authors.forename: Gaby
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reichmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018122:B7-1 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology*; D039521:CD11c Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018122:B7-1 Antigen; D039521:CD11c Antigen; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens; C516770:Ptprc protein, mouse