Limitations with in vitro production of dendritic cells using cytokines

Abstract: Dendritic cells (DC) are the most ef-fective antigen-presenting cells. Many studies now show that DC can be generated in vitro from a number of starting cell populations containing he-matopoietic precursors. The protocols used in-volve different combinations of cytokines including granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which supports myeloid precursors, or interleukin-7, which supports lymphoid precur-sors. DC are commonly generated by in vitro cul-ture of bone marrow or monocytes with GM-CSF and other cytokines. However, these cultures do not sus-tain DC production for long periods of time and do not allow the identification or study of intermediate stages in cell development. In vitro cytokine-depen-dent cultures of DC precursors do provide a reliable source of DC for stimulating immune responses. However, use of cells produced in cytokine-depen-dent cultures for the study of DC differentiation is limited, as DC development in vivo differs in cytokin