Isolation and in vitro generation of gene-manipulated human plasmacytoid and conventional dendritic cells.
Our understanding of human lymphocyte development has increased significantly over the past 20 years. In particular, our insight into human T- and B-cell development has improved (1, 2). Nonetheless, there are many gaps in our understanding, particularly regarding the early stages of development of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) into downstream lineage-biased and lineage-restricted precursors and the molecular mechanisms underlying these activities. The same holds true for our knowledge of human dendritic cell (DC) development. While the amount of data on the different subsets of conventional DCs (cDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) rapidly increases in mice (3, 4), the developmental stages of different DC subsets in humans remain poorly defined (2). The relatively easy access to patient material and therefore human precursor cells that can be isolated from these tissues combined with the availability of in vitro and in vivo differentiation assays allows studies in the field of human hematopoietic development, including that of DCs. In addition, the opportunities to manipulate gene expression, by stable overexpression of a gene of interest or RNA interference-mediated knockdown, generate valuable information about the mechanisms underlying lineage commitment and differentiation.
Schotte
Remko
R
Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam (AMC-UvA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Schmidlin
Heike
H
Nagasawa
Maho
M
Dontje
Wendy
W
Karrich
Julien J
JJ
Uittenbogaart
Christel
C
Spits
Hergen
H
Blom
Bianca
B
D000818:Animals; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D053650:Interleukin-3 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000378:metabolism; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice
D018952:Antigens, CD34; D053650:Interleukin-3 Receptor alpha Subunit; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens