Functional competence of dendritic cells in human umbilical cord blood

Dendritic cells (DC) are the main stimulators of primary T cell responses. Very little is known about DC in cord blood (CB), and whether they are involved in the low incidence and severity of GVHD following CB transplantation. Here, CBDC were identified as a HLA-DR+/lineage marker (lin; CD3, CD11b, CD14, CD16, CD19, CD34, CD56 and glycophorin A antigens) negative population, representing 0.3 +/- 0.1% (mean +/- s.d.; n = 15) of CB mononuclear cells. CBDC expressed the CD4, CD11a, CD18, CD45RA, CD50 and CD54 antigens but revealed no expression of the CD1a, CD11c, CD40, CD45R0, CD58, CD83, CD86 and CD102 antigens. Immunomagnetically enriched CBDC showed potent allostimulatory activity for CB T cells. Thus, CBDC are functionally competent and resemble in their immature/resting state CD11c- DC in peripheral blood.