DETECTION OF ENHANCED CYTOTOXIC T-LYMPHOCYTE RESPONSE WITH SPLEENIC DENDRITIC CELLS ENRICHED BY A SIMPLE SEQUENTIAL ADHERENCE METHOD

Dendritic cells (DC), which are present in many tissues, play a critic al role in the initiation of the immune response by presenting antigen s to T and B lymphocytes. DC are present in tissues as a minority cell type as compared to other APCs. Although clearly distinguished by mor phology and surface markers, dendritic cells are difficult to isolate and multiple step procedures including Percol/Hypaque or BSA gradient centrifugation have been used. Here we describe a simple method for is olating an enriched population of dendritic cells from mouse spleen by sequencial adherence to petri dishes. The purity of dendritic cells e nriched thereby was found to be above 70%. The identity of these cells was confirmed to be DC by morphology, presence of surface markers, an d their functions, e.g., strong allogeneic MLR reaction and induction of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte response.