Enhanced T-cell Activation and T-cell-dependent IL-2 Production by CD83+, CD25high, CD43high Human Monocyte-derived Dendritic Cells

Although standardized protocols are widely used for the generation of monocyte-derived immunostimulatory dendritic cells (DC(ims)), the inducibility of Th1 cells by DC(ims) may considerably differ. As a measure for the quality of DC(ims) generated from an individual donor at a certain time point, CD83 is used in combination with HLA-DR and CD86 to assess DC maturation. When phenotypically analyzing DC(ims), we identified a subpopulation ( approximately 60%) of CD83+, CD86+, and HLA-DR+ DC(ims) that co-expressed CD25. DC within a given DC(ims) preparation identified by lower expression of CD83 and by selective expression of CD14, however, did not co-express CD25. In order to establish CD25 as an additional maturation marker of DC(ims), we studied the DC phenotype of these cells as well as the DC-dependent T-cell proliferation and T-cell cytokine production profile after co-incubation with sorted CD25(high) and CD25(low) subpopulations of CD83+, HLA-DR+, CD86+ DC(ims). CD25(high) DC(ims) showed significant up-regulation of the DC activation molecule CD43 and induced increased levels of IL-2 secretion in allogeneic T-cells (170.7+/-86.7pg/mL) as compared to T-cells coincubated with CD25(low) DC(ims) (86.6+/-37.6pg/mL) [p=0.0224]. This was reflected by a significantly lower T-cell stimulatory capacity of CD25(low) DC(ims) (84.0% of CD25(high) DC(ims), 1:10 ratio; p=0.014) whereas the T-cell stimulatory capacity of CD25(low) DC(ims) was much higher when compared to IL-10 induced regulatory DC (55.3% of CD25(high) DC(ims); 1:10 ratio). With regard to cancer vaccination protocols, we propose to use CD25 and CD43 as additional markers for DC quality control, assessment of maturational status, and positive selection.