Open AccessCD1c-Expression by Monocytes – Implications for the Use of Commercial CD1c+ Dendritic Cell Isolation Kits
Author(s) -
Martine Schrøder,
Guro Reinholt Melum,
Ole J. B. Landsverk,
Anna Bujko,
Sheraz Yaqub,
Einar Gran,
Henrik Aamodt,
Espen S. Bækkevold,
Frode L. Jahnsen,
Lisa Richter
Publication year - 2016
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.0157387
Subject(s) - cd14 , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , monocyte , cell culture , dendritic cell , cell , population , cell type , immunology , immune system , biochemistry , genetics , medicine , environmental health
Conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) comprise a heterogeneous population of cells that are important regulators of immunity and homeostasis. CD1c + cDCs are present in human blood and tissues, and found to efficiently activate naïve CD4 + T cells. While CD1c is thought to specifically identify this subset of human cDCs, we show here that also classical and intermediate monocytes express CD1c. Accordingly, the commercial CD1c (BDCA-1) + Dendritic Cell Isolation Kit isolates two distinct cell populations from blood: CD1c + CD14 − cDCs and CD1c + CD14 + monocytes. CD1c + cDCs and CD1c + monocytes exhibited strikingly different properties, including their differential regulation of surface marker expression, their levels of cytokine production, and their ability to stimulate naïve CD4 + T cells. These results demonstrate that a commercial CD1c (BDCA-1) + Dendritic Cell Isolation Kit isolates two functionally different cell populations, which has important implications for the interpretation of previously generated data using this kit to characterize CD1c + cDCs.