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We describe a procedure to assess the capacity for pharmacologic agents to generate tolerogenic dendritic cells from naïve monocyte-derived dendritic cells in vitro and validate their potency by autologous regulatory T cell generation.
Tolerogenic dendritic cells (tolDCs) are a subset of dendritic cells (DCs) that are known to influence naïve T cells toward a regulatory T cell (Treg) phenotype. TolDCs are currently under investigation as therapies for autoimmunity and transplantation, both as a cell therapy and method to induce tolDCs from endogenous DCs. To date, however, the number of known agents to induce tolDCs from naïve DCs is relatively small and their potency to generate Tregs in vivo has been inconsistent, particularly therapies that induce tolDCs from endogenous DCs. This provides an opportunity to explore novel compounds to generate tolerance.
Here we describe a method to test novel immunomodulatory compounds on monocyte-derived DCs (moDCs) in vitro and validate their functionality to generate autologous Tregs. First, we obtain PBMCs and isolate CD14+ monocytes and CD3+ T cells using commercially available magnetic separation kits. Next, we differentiate monocytes into moDCs, treat them with an established immunomodulator, such as rapamycin, dexamethasone, IL-10, or vitamin D3, for 24 h and test their change in tolerogenic markers as a validation of the protocol. Finally, we co-culture the induced tolDCs with autologous T cells in the presence of anti-CD3/CD28 stimulation and observe changes in Treg populations and T cell proliferation. We envision this protocol being used to evaluate the efficacy of novel immunomodulatory agents to reprogram already differentiated DCs towards tolDC.
Dendritic cells (DCs) are critical mediators between innate and adaptive immunity. DCs, which mainly reside in mucosal membranes, skin and lymphoid tissue, are the primary antigen presenting cells (APCs)1. DCs uptake foreign proteins and process and present them on major histocompatibility (MHC) proteins to naïve T cells. DCs specifically express MHC class II proteins, such as human leukocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR) in humans. The activation state of the DCs upon antigen exposure is critical for the downstream T cell response2. Immature DCs express various pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that recognize classes of molecules call pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), such as the bacterial wall component, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)3. Upon PRR stimulation, DCs become matured DCs and upregulate important T cell co-stimulatory proteins, such as CD80, CD86, and CD40, and secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), facilitating the differentiation of naïve T cells into conventional effector or helper T cells2. On the contrary, if DC maturation is interrupted or if DCs develop in a tolerogenic environment, DCs can generate a tolerogenic DC state (tolDCs)4. TolDCs downregulate classical T cell co-stimulatory receptors and instead upregulate tolerance receptors such as programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) and generate suppressive cytokines such as interleukin 10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β)4. This is not a comprehensive list of tolerance markers and, in fact, there is limited consensus as to which tolDC markers are appropriate to define the tolDC state5. Considering this, we propose regulatory T cell (Treg) generation as a functional marker that ought to be used to compare the effectiveness of various tolDC induction agents.
In addition to tolDC/matured DC activation states, DCs can also be categorized based on their lineage or tissue location, with each subset displaying slightly different functionality. While the tolDC/matured DC division is less definitive and exists more as a continuum, lineage divisions have well-defined markers in both human and mice. DC precursors are formed in the bone marrow, but there are two main subtypes of DCs based on their lineage: 1) plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDCs), which derive from lymphoid lineages and 2) conventional dendritic cells (cDCs), which derive from myeloid lineages. In humans, pDCs are matured in lymphoid organs, express CD303, and are highly responsive in viral infections6. CD11c expressing cDCs, meanwhile, are matured in peripheral tissues and exist in two distinct subtypes, CD1c+ cDC1s and CD141+ cDC2, which each generate distinct T cell responses7. Furthermore, all cDCs can exist in either tissue-resident (CD103-) or migratory (CD103+) substates8. Finally, under certain conditions, cells from monocyte lineages (CD14+) can be induced toward a dendritic cell phenotype and are identified as CD14-, CD141+, CD1c+ 9. These cells, known as monocyte-derived DCs (moDCs), are the most commonly used for ex vivo analysis in humans as monocytes constitute approximately 10-30% of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), whereas pDCs constitute only 1-3%10. This makes moDCs an attractive choice, but it is also known that moDCs are more inflammatory that typical cDCs isolated from primary tissue9.
There are currently two broad categories of efforts to employ tolDCs to generate clinical tolerance. First, tolDCs are generated from monocytes for use as a cell therapy. In this paradigm, moDCs are typically differentiated using IL-4/GM-CSF concurrently with immunomodulators such as vitamin D3, rapamycin (rapa), IL-10, dexamethasone, or combinations of these11,12. These tolDCs have been explored as autologous cell therapies for autoimmunity and transplants13. The other use of tolDCs is to reprogram endogenous DCs towards tolDCs using free drugs or nanocarriers to deliver both immunomodulator and antigen of interest14,15,16. Induction of already differentiated DCs is more challenging, however, due to the development of robust metabolic phenotypes of DCs that are typically in contrast with tolDC metabolism17,18. This is a high bar for most pharmacological immunomodulators; for this reason, most endogenous DC reprogramming studies report effective DC suppression and often some Treg induction, but lack clinical success, often due to lack of T cell persistence15,19,20. This highlights the need for strategies to identify potential tolDC induction agents from existing DCs.
Here, we present a method for in vitro evaluation of immunomodulatory agents against differentiated moDCs with the end metric of autologous Treg induction. This protocol is designed to assess the effectiveness of immunomodulatory agents to reprogram already-differentiated human moDCs towards tolerance. Furthermore, this protocol validates the functionality of reprogrammed tolDCs to generate Tregs against autologous T cells isolated from the same PBMC sample. This is in contrast to other protocols that induce tolerance during differentiation and/or challenge tolDCs with T cells from allogenic donors21. In this protocol, we use the common tolerizing agent rapa as an example but also demonstrate the limited effectiveness of rapa-treated moDCs to generate Tregs. In our representative results, we also show the efficacy of other common immunomodulatory treatments such as IL-10, dexamethasone, and vitamin D3. We envision this protocol being used to screen potentially more effective tolDC-inducting agents against already established moDCs22.
All human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples were obtained from the University of Pennsylvania's Human Immunology Core from deidentified donors with prior approval from the University of Pennsylvania's Institutional Review Board (IRB) with patient consent.
Optional: While in this method, we used freshly isolated PBMCs obtained from an academic laboratory, PBMCs can be isolated from either whole blood or leukapheresis-enriched blood products. We recommend using the density gradient centrifugation method, as this is a well-established and reliable method that is described elsewhere23.
1. Isolation of monocytes/T cells and moDC differentiation
2. Adding immunomodulatory drugs for generating tolerogenic moDCs
3. Flow analysis for moDC (Validation + Tolerance)
4. Flow analysis of T cells
We have described a protocol for human PBMCs, isolate both CD3+ T cells and CD14+ monocytes using commercially available magnetic separation kits, differentiate monocytes into CD14-, HLA-DR+, CD141+, CD1c+ moDCs using GM-CSF and IL-4, treat them for 24 h, and co-culture with autologous T cells with anti-CD3/CD28 stimulation for 72 h. An experimental schematic is shown in Figure 1.
Isolation ...
Here we describe a reliable and versatile method to assess the functionality of immunomodulatory agents to induce tolDCs from moDCs and validate their functionality to generate Tregs from autogenic T cells ex vivo. There are several critical steps in this protocol. First, monocytes are notoriously sensitive cells and must be obtained from fresh, not previously frozen PBMCs for the best results. Monocytes should be isolated as soon as possible and placed in the differentiation cocktail. Typically, poor monocyte y...
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
We would like to thank the University of Pennsylvania's Human Immunology Core (HIC) for providing fresh human PBMCs from donors. The HIC is supported in part by NIH P30 AI045008 and P30 CA016520.
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
0.1-10 µL Filtered Pipet tips | VWR | 76322-158 | General Cell Culture |
1.5 mL Centrifuge Tube | VWR | 77508-358 | General Cell Culture |
10 mL Serological Pipets | VWR | 414004-267 | General Cell Culture |
100-1000 µL Filtered Pipet tips | VWR | 76322-164 | General Cell Culture |
15 mL Conical Tube | VWR | 77508-212 | General Cell Culture |
20-200 µL Filtered Pipet tips | VWR | 76322-160 | General Cell Culture |
2-Mercaptoethanol | MP Biomedical | 194834 | T Cell Culture |
50 mL Conical Tube | VWR | 21008-736 | General Cell Culture |
60 x 15 mm Dish, Nunclon Delta | Thermo Fischer | 150326 | General Cell Culture |
96 Well Conical (V) Bottom Plate, Non-Treated Surface | Thermo Fischer | 277143 | General Cell Culture |
96 well Flat Bottom Plate | Thermo Fischer | 161093 | General Cell Culture |
APC/Cyanine7 anti-human CD272 (BTLA) Antibody | Biolegend | 344518 | Flow Cytometry |
Attune NxT (Red/Blue Laser, 7 Channel) | Thermo Fischer | A24863 | Flow Cytometry |
BSA | Thermo Fischer | 15260-037 | General Cell Culture |
CD14 Monoclonal Antibody (61D3), PE | Thermo Fischer | 12-0149-42 | Flow Cytometry |
CD1c Monoclonal Antibody (L161), PE-Cyanine7 | Thermo Fischer | 25-0015-42 | Flow Cytometry |
CD209 (DC-SIGN) Monoclonal Antibody (eB-h209), PerCP-Cyanine5.5 | Thermo Fischer | 45-2099-42 | Flow Cytometry |
CD25 Monoclonal Antibody (CD25-4E3), APC | Thermo Fischer | 17-0257-42 | Flow Cytometry |
CD274 (PD-L1, B7-H1) Monoclonal Antibody (MIH1), PE | Thermo Fischer | 12-5983-42 | Flow Cytometry |
CD4 Monoclonal Antibody (RPA-T4), Alexa Fluor 488 | Thermo Fischer | 53-0049-42 | Flow Cytometry |
CD40 Monoclonal Antibody (5C3), APC | Thermo Fischer | 17-0409-42 | Flow Cytometry |
CD40 Monoclonal Antibody (5C3), APC-eFluor 780 | Thermo Fischer | 47-0409-42 | Flow Cytometry |
CD69 Monoclonal Antibody (FN50), PE | Thermo Fischer | MA1-10276 | Flow Cytometry |
CD86 Monoclonal Antibody (BU63), FITC | Thermo Fischer | MHCD8601 | Flow Cytometry |
CD8a Monoclonal Antibody (RPA-T8), PE-Cyanine7 | Thermo Fischer | 25-0088-42 | Flow Cytometry |
Conical Bottom (V-well) 96 Well Plate | Thermo Fischer | 2605 | Flow Cytometry |
Cryogenic Vials, 2 mL | Thermo Fischer | 430488 | T Cell Culture |
Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), Sequencing Grade | Thermo Fischer | 20688 | General Cell Culture |
DPBS | Thermo Fischer | 14200166 | General Cell Culture |
EasySep Human Monocyte Isolation Kit | Stem Cell Technologies | 19359 | Cell Separation |
EasySep Human T Cell Isolation Kit | Stem Cell Technologies | 17951 | Cell Separation |
EasySep Magnet | Stem Cell Technologies | 18000 | Cell Separation |
EDTA | Thermo Fischer | AIM9260G | General Cell Culture |
Falcon Round-Bottom Polystyrene Tubes, 5 mL | Stem Cell Technologies | 38025 | Cell Separation |
Fc Receptor Binding Inhibitor Polyclonal Antibody | Thermo Fischer | 14-9161-73 | Flow Cytometry |
Fetal Bovine Serum | Thermo Fischer | A5670701 | General Cell Culture |
Fixable Viability Dye eFluor 780 | Thermo Fischer | 65-0865-18 | Flow Cytometry |
Foxp3 / Transcription Factor Staining Buffer Set | Thermo Fischer | 00-5523-00 | Flow Cytometry |
FOXP3 Monoclonal Antibody (PCH101), PE-Cyanine5.5 | Thermo Fischer | 35-4776-42 | Flow Cytometry |
HBSS | Thermo Fischer | 14170-112 | General Cell Culture |
Heat Inactivated Fetal Bovine Serum | Thermo Fischer | A5670801 | General Cell Culture |
HEPES (1 M) | Thermo Fischer | 15630106 | moDC Cell Culture |
HLA-DR Monoclonal Antibody (L243), Alexa Fluor 488 | Thermo Fischer | A51009 | Flow Cytometry |
Human CD3/CD28/CD2 T Cell Activator | StemCell Technologies | 10970 | T Cell Culture |
Human GM-CSF Recombinant Protein | Thermo Fischer | 300-03 | moDC Cell Culture |
Human IL-10 ELISA Kit, High Sensitivity | Thermo Fischer | BMS215-2HS | ELISA |
Human IL-4, Animal-Free Recombinant Protein | Thermo Fischer | AF-200-04 | moDC Cell Culture |
Human PBMC (Freshly Isolated) | UPenn HIC | N/A | Cells |
Human TNF alpha ELISA Kit | Thermo Fischer | BMS223-4 | ELISA |
Light Microscope (DMi1) | Lucia | 391240 | General Cell Culture |
Lipopolysaccaride (LPS) | Invivogen | tlrl-eblps | moDC Cell Culture |
LIVE/DEAD Fixable Near-IR Dead Cell Stain Kit | Thermo Fischer | L34975 | Flow Cytometry |
MEM Non-Essential Amino Acids Solution (100x) | Thermo Fischer | 11140050 | T Cell Culture |
Penicillin-Streptomycin (100x) | Thermo Fischer | 15140122 | General Cell Culture |
Pipette Controller | VWR | 77575-370 | General Cell Culture |
Rapamycin, 98+% | Thermo Fischer | J62473.MF | moDC Cell Culture |
RPMI 1640 with Glutamax | Thermo Fischer | 61870-036 | General Cell Culture |
Separation Buffer | Stem Cell Technologies | 20144 | Cell Separation |
T Cell Stimulation Cocktail (500x) | Thermo Fischer | 00-4970-93 | T Cell Culture |
UltraComp eBead Plus Compensation Beads | Thermo Fischer | 01-3333-41 | Flow Cytometry |
Variable Pipette Set | Fischer Scientific | 05-403-152 | General Cell Culture |
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