Over-expression of Hlx homeobox gene in DC2.4 dendritic cell enhances its maturation and antigen presentation

Hlx as a Th1-specific transcription factor, it appears to drive maturation of Th1 and IFN-γ secretion in cooperation with T-bet. In this study, we established a stable Hlx-over-expressed dendritic cell line (DC2.4/Hlx), and investigated the possible effect of Hlx gene on maturation of dendritic cell-line (DC2.4). Results shown that over-expressed Hlx in DC2.4 up-regulated the transcription and expression of IFN-γ, increased the expression of maturation makers including CD40, CD80, CD86, MHC-I and MHC-II. Functional assay for DC2.4/Hlx showed that over-expressed Hlx increased the expression level of interleukin-12 in the supernatant and decreased DC endocytosis when cells were incubated in vitro. Furthermore, using a syngeneic T cell activation model, we found that DC2.4/Hlx could obviously present ovalbumin (OVA) antigen to T cell in OVA pre-immunized mice.