Adjuvant activity on murine and human macrophages

Activation of cells of the innate immunity such as macrophages and dendritic cells is critical to mount an adaptive immune response. Recent advances on the understanding of innate immune receptors such as the Toll-like receptors (TLR) and NOD-like receptors (NLR) and the demonstration that microbial products activate specific receptors. This discovery represented a major advance and provided tools to test novel adjuvants in vitro to investigate activation on innate immune cells. Here the isolation and culture of murine macrophages is described, and the use of macrophages derived from gene-deficient mice is proposed to define receptor usage. Novel adjuvants may be tested for their capacity to induce cytokines, chemokines and the expression of costimulatory molecules. The basic methods to assess macrophage activation are given, which may predict an in vivo activity of a novel adjuvant.