title: In vitro maturation and migration of immature dendritic cells after chemokine receptor 7 transfection.
abstract: Dendritic cells are specialized antigen-presenting cells that regulate immunity and tolerance. Chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7), which is expressed by mature dendritic cells, mediates the migration of the cells to secondary lymphoid organs and thus regulates immune responses. It has been demonstrated that immature dendritic cells can induce immune tolerance, but they do not express CCR7 and cannot migrate to secondary lymphoid organs. We transfected immature dendritic cells with a recombinant adenovirus carrying the CCR7 gene to obtain immature dendritic cells with the ability to migrate. The maturity of the cells was monitored by scanning electron microscopy and flow cytometry. In addition, we assessed the ability of cells to migrate and the function of the cells using in vitro chemotactic and mixed leukocyte reaction assays. The results showed that immature dendritic cells became semi-mature, exhibiting a mild upregulation of co-stimulatory molecular expression and a few dendritic processes. Immunofluorescence assay and Western blotting indicated that CCR7 protein expression increased significantly in immature dendritic cells following CCR7 gene transfection. The in vitro chemotactic assay showed a significantly enhanced ability to migrate in response to CCL19 following CCR7 gene transfection. Moreover, transfected cells showed an enhanced ability to stimulate allogeneic T cell proliferation in vitro, but their ability was significantly weaker than that of mature dendritic cells. Interleukin-10 inhibited the differentiation and maturation of immature dendritic cells. It is concluded that, following CCR7 gene transfection, immature dendritic cells exhibit an enhanced ability to migrate and some of the characteristics of mature cells. Thus, these cells are of potential clinical significance in studies of immune tolerance induction during skin grafting after severe burns.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, 30 Gaotanyan Street, Chongqing 400038, China.
authors.forename: Hai-ming
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.forename: Yi-zhi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Zhi-qiang
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D054400:Receptors, CCR7 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D054400:Receptors, CCR7