Open AccessMonitoring the Initiation and Kinetics of Human Dendritic Cell-Induced Polarization of Autologous Naive CD4+ T Cells
Author(s) -
Tammy Oth,
Melanie C. A. Schnijderberg,
Birgit L. M. G. Senden-Gijsbers,
Wilfred T.V. Germeraad,
Gerard M.J. Bos,
Joris Vanderlocht
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0103725
Subject(s) - t cell , ex vivo , t cell receptor , immune system , cd28 , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , antigen presenting cell , immunology , dendritic cell , cell , in vitro , biochemistry
A crucial step in generating de novo immune responses is the polarization of naive cognate CD4 + T cells by pathogen-triggered dendritic cells (DC). In the human setting, standardized DC-dependent systems are lacking to study molecular events during the initiation of a naive CD4 + T cell response. We developed a TCR-restricted assay to compare different pathogen-triggered human DC for their capacities to instruct functional differentiation of autologous, naive CD4 + T cells. We demonstrated that this methodology can be applied to compare differently matured DC in terms of kinetics, direction, and magnitude of the naive CD4 + T cell response. Furthermore, we showed the applicability of this assay to study the T cell polarizing capacity of low-frequency blood-derived DC populations directly isolated ex vivo . This methodology for addressing APC-dependent instruction of naive CD4 + T cells in a human autologous setting will provide researchers with a valuable tool to gain more insight into molecular mechanisms occurring in the early phase of T cell polarization. In addition, it may also allow the study of pharmacological agents on DC-dependent T cell polarization in the human system.