Serial analysis of gene expression in human monocyte-derived dendritic cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells in the immu ne system and can be generated in vitro from hematopoietic progenitor cells in the bone marrow, CD34(+) cord blood cells, precursor cells in the perip heral blood, and blood monocytes by culturing with granulocyte-macrophage c olony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin-C and tumor necrosis factor- alpha. We have performed serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) in DCs d erived from human blood monocytes. A total of 58,540 tag sequences from a D C complementary DNA (cDNA) library represented more than 17,000 different g enes, and these data were compared with SAGE analysis of tags from monocyte s (Mo) and GM-CSF-induced macrophages (M phi). Many of the genes that were differentially expressed in DCs were identified as genes encoding proteins related to cell structure and cell motility. Interestingly, the highly expr essed genes in DCs encode chemokines such as TARC, MDC, and MCP-4, which pr eferentially chemoattract Th2-type lymphocytes. Although DCs have been cons idered to be very heterogeneous, the identification of specific genes expre ssed in human Mo-derived DCs should provide candidate genes to define subse ts of, the function of, and the maturation stage of DCs and possibly also t o diagnose diseases in which DCs play a significant role, such as autoimmun e diseases and neoplasms. This study represents the first extensive gene ex pression analysis in any type of DCs. (C) 1999 by The American Society of H ematology.