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Increased presence of CD34 + cells in the peripheral blood of head and neck cancer patients and their differentiation into dendritic cells
Author(s) -
Garrity Thomas,
Pandit Rajiv,
Wright Mark A.,
Benefield Janet,
Keni Sarita,
Young M. Rita I.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0215(19971127)73:5<663::aid-ijc9>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - dendritic cell , cd34 , cd14 , immune system , follicular dendritic cells , immunology , antigen presenting cell , cytokine , biology , progenitor cell , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , stem cell , cancer research , medicine , t cell , microbiology and biotechnology , cancer , head and neck cancer
Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have profound immune deficiencies. In 65% of these patients, there is an increased intra‐tumoral presence of immune‐suppressive CD34 + progenitor cells. The goal of the present study was to determine whether CD34 + cell levels were also increased in the peripheral blood of HNSCC patients and if these immune‐suppressive cells could be differentiated into dendritic cells. Our results showed that CD34 + cell levels are increased in the peripheral blood of HNSCC patients. To assess if these CD34 + cells could differentiate into dendritic cells, they were isolated from the blood of HNSCC patients and cultured for 12 days with various cytokine combinations. Culturing CD34 + cells with stem cell factor (c‐kit ligand) plus granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor resulted in the appearance of a significant proportion of cells expressing phenotypic markers characteristic of dendritic cells. Also, including tumor necrosis factor‐α yielded a significant proportion of cells resembling the bi‐potential precursor cells for dendritic cells and monocytes (CD14 + CD1a + ), in addition to the dendritic‐like cells. When the differentiation inducer 1α,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D 3 [1,25(OH) 2 D 3 ] was added along with the cytokine combinations, the yield of cells having characteristics of dendritic cells was further increased. Cells that were derived from CD34 + cell cultures containing 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 had a more potent capacity to present the recall antigen tetanus toxoid to autologous peripheral blood leukocytes and to stimulate a mixed leukocyte response compared to cultures to which 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 had not been added. Our results show that CD34 + cells, whose frequency is increased in HNSCC patients, can be differentiated into cells that phenotypically and functionally resemble dendritic cells and that 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 accentuates this differentiation. Int. J. Cancer 73:663–669, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.