Dendritic antigen-presenting cells from the peripheral blood of renal-cell-carcinoma patients

Dendritic cells are considered to be the initiators of immune responses, including those directed against tumors. Clinical research on dendritic cells was long hampered by the limited availability of these cells. The recent identification of cytokine combinations that mobilize dendritic cells with potent antigen-presenting cell function from peripheral blood represented a major progress. We show in this study that substantial numbers of dendritic cells can be obtained from the peripheral blood of patients with renal-cell carcinoma. The procedure requires a relatively small blood sample (40 ml) and avoids both priming of the patient with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor and leukapheresis. Approximately 2 to 8 million cells with the characteristics of dendritic cells could be obtained: phase-contrast microscopy revealed the typical cytoplasmic processes or veils; phenotypic analysis confirmed expression of dendritic-cell-associated molecules, including MHC class II, CD1a, CD4, ICAM-1 (CD54), LFA-3 (CD58), B7-1 (CD80) and B7-2 (CD86), and absence of T-cell, B-cell and monocyte markers; in addition, these cells rapidly attached to and migrated on collagen-type-1-coated surfaces. Interestingly, attachment was accompanied by acquisition of the CD14 antigen; functionally, cultured dendritic cells proved to be very potent co-stimulators of the phytohemagglutinin-induced proliferation of autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. The reproducible growth of functional dendritic cells from cancer patients is encouraging for the design of immunotherapy protocols.