RNA-seq analysis of human T CD4+ cells after their interaction with autologous antigen-specific vitamin D3-generated tolerogenic dendritic cells

The use of autologous tolerogenic dendritic cells (tolDC) has become a promising alternative for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Among the different alternatives available, the use of vitamin D3 for the generation of tolDC (vitD3-tolDC) constitutes one of the most robust approaches due to their immune regulatory properties, which are currently being tested in clinical trials. However, the mechanisms that vitD3-tolDC are triggering for the induction of tolerance remain elusive. For this reason, we have performed a full transcriptomic characterization of T cells upon their interaction with autologous, antigen-specific vitD3-tolDC. Our results evidenced a strong down-modulation of genes involved in cell cycle and cell response to immune-related stimuli in T CD4+ cells after their interaction with vitD3-tolDC. Consequently, our results show the induction of a strong antigen-specific hyporresponsiveness, which manifests the regulatory properties of these cells and therefore their therapeutic potential in the clinic. Overall design: Analysis of the antigen-specific effect of vitamin D3-generated tolerogenic dendritic cells over autologous T CD4+ cells compared to mature immunogenic dendritic cells