Efficient generation of canine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells

Because of their unsurpassed potency in presenting antigens to naive T cells, dendritic cells are considered to be an important candidate in the development of immunotherapeutic strategies. Despite the high potential of dendritic cell-based immunotherapy, as a so-called dendritic cell vaccination, few clinical approaches using dendritic cell vaccination have been performed in the dog because of very limited information regarding the generation of canine dendritic cells and their functional properties. We therefore established a protocol for the efficient generation of dendritic cells from canine bone marrow cells using recombinant feline granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and canine interleukin-4. Dendritic cells were generated efficiently: a yield of 1-9 x 10(6) cells per approximately 0.5 ml of canine bone marrow aspiration was achieved. These dendritic cells showed features shared with mouse and human dendritic cells: dendrite morphology, expression of surface markers MHC class II and CD11c, and up-regulation of molecules related to antigen presentation (MHC class II, B7-1, and B7-2) by activation with lipopolysaccharide. Moreover, the dendritic cells demonstrated phagocytic activity, processing activity of pinocytosed proteins, and activation of allogeneic T cells far more potent than that by macrophages. Our findings suggest that the bone marrow-derived dendritic cells are functional for the capturing and processing of antigens and the initiation of T cell responses.