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Updated: Apr 4, 2026

Fluorescence-activated Cell Sorting for Purification of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells from the Mouse Bone Marrow
Published on: November 4, 2016
Cilostazol inhibits plasmacytoid dendritic cell activation and antigen presentation
Fei Sun1, Zhao Yin1, Hai-Sheng Yu2
1Department of Cardiology, The 306th Hospital of PLA, No. 9 Anxiangbeili Street, Beijing, China.
Background:
Cilostazol, an anti-platelet drug for treating coronary heart disease, has been reported to modulate immune cell functions. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) have been found to participate in the progression of atherosclerosis mainly through interferon α (IFN-α) production. Whether cilostazol influences pDCs activation is still not clear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of cilostazol on cell activation and antigen presentation of pDCs in vitro in this study.
Methods:
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated by Ficoll centrifugation and pDCs sorted by flow cytometry were used in this study. After pretreated with cilostazol for 2 h, cells were stimulated with CpG-A, R848 or virus for 6 h or 20 h, or stimulated with CpG-B for 48 h and then co-cultured with naïve T cell for five days. Cytokines in supernatant and intracellular cytokines were analyzed by ELISA or flow cytometry respectively.
Results:
Our data indicated that cilostazol could inhibit IFN-α and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) production from pDCs in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the ability of priming naïve T cells of pDCs was also impaired by cilostazol. The inhibitory effect was not due to cell killing since the viability of pDCs did not change upon cilostazol treatment.
Conclusion:
Cilostazol inhibits pDCs cell activation and antigen presentation in vitro, which may explain how cilostazol protects against atherosclerosis.
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