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Updated: Aug 10, 2026
Culture of myeloid dendritic cells from bone marrow precursors
Published on: July 25, 2008
Circulating myeloid dendritic cell directly isolated from patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia are functional
Enrica Orsini1, Elisabetta Calabrese, Roberta Maggio
1Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Cellulari ed Ematologia, University "La Sapienza", Via Benevento 6, 00161 Rome, Italy. orsini@bce.uniroma1.it
Insights
Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients have circulating dendritic cells (DCs) carrying the bcr-abl translocation. Despite appearing normal, these leukemic DCs cannot stimulate an effective anti-leukemic immune response in T cells.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Hematology
- Oncology
Background:
- Leukemic dendritic cells (DCs) in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) are suspected but uncharacterized.
- The bcr-abl translocation is a hallmark of CML, affecting hematopoietic stem cells.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the phenotype and function of circulating myeloid DCs in CML patients.
- To determine if bcr-abl-positive DCs can elicit an autologous T-cell response.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of circulating BDCA-1+ myeloid DCs from 15 chronic phase CML patients.
- Phenotypic characterization using flow cytometry, including CD80 and CD40 expression.
- Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to detect the bcr-abl translocation.
- Assessment of allostimulatory capacity, cytokine production, and T-cell polarization.
- In vitro testing of bcr-abl+ DC ability to stimulate autologous T cells.
Main Results:
- CML DCs exhibited comparable phenotypes to normal DCs, with reduced CD80 and CD40 expression.
- No significant differences were observed in allostimulatory ability, cytokine production, or T-cell polarization between CML and normal DCs.
- FISH confirmed the presence of the bcr-abl translocation in CML DCs.
- bcr-abl-positive DCs failed to induce specific recognition or response in autologous T cells.
Conclusions:
- Circulating dendritic cells in CML patients can carry the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph+) but display a largely normal phenotype and function.
- Despite harboring the leukemic translocation, these Ph+ DCs are incapable of initiating a protective anti-leukemic immune response via autologous T cells.
Abstract:
Leukemic bcr-abl positive dendritic cells (DCs) are likely to be present in vivo in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients, but no data are available on their functional qualities. We analyzed the circulating BDCA-1+ myeloid DC compartment in 15 chronic phase CML patients. Phenotypic features of CML DCs were comparable with that of normal DCs, except for the CD80 and CD40 antigens, significantly under-represented in CML patients. Nonetheless, no differences were found between normal samples and leukemic DCs in the allostimulatory ability, as well as in the production of cytokines and polarization of T cell responses. CML DCs were analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and found positive for the bcr-abl translocation. However, when bcr-abl+ DCs were tested for their ability to stimulate an autologous T-cell response in vitro, we could not detect a specific recognition. We conclude that an apparently normal circulating DC compartment carrying the Ph+ chromosome can be identified in CML patients; however, these cells appear unable to trigger a protective anti-leukemic immune response in autologous T cells.
