Isolation of dendritic cells from umbilical cord blood using magnetic activated cell sorting or adherence

Dendritic cells (DCs) are a highly specialized type of antigen-presenting cell. The present study describes and compares two methods for preparing DCs from umbilical cord blood. The first method involves the isolation of DCs by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS). This technique isolates CD34⁺ cells from cord blood and induces the formation of DCs by the addition of cytokines, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4. The second method involves the generation of large numbers of DCs from cord blood using an adherent method, which isolates umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells and induces DCs in the same conditions as those used in MACS. The DCs were harvested following 7 days of incubation and observed with an inverted microscope. The phenotype of the cells was then analyzed by flow cytometry. The results revealed that, subsequent to 7 days of incubation, the differentiated DCs obtained using the adherent method were more mature than those isolated using MACS. However, these cells were unable to be maintained in culture for more than 9-10 days. By contrast, the DCs derived from CD34⁺ cells by MACS were phenotypically stable and could be maintained for up to 3 weeks in culture. Either method produced DCs from cord blood. However, the DCs isolated using the MACS method demonstrated higher homogeneity, yield and viability than those obtained using the adherent method. Due to the various compositions of the monocyte subsets isolated, isolation methods affect the phenotypes and functions of the resultant DCs.