Single cell profiling of human induced dendritic cells generated by direct reprogramming of embryonic fibroblasts

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells specialized in the recognition, processing and presentation of antigens to T-cells, inducing adaptive immune responses. We have identified PU.1, IRF8 and BATF3 transcription factors (TFs) to reprogram human fibroblasts into DC type 1 (DC1). Induced DCs acquire a step-wise DC1 transcriptional signature at the single cell level as assessed with droplet based scRNA-seq. Hence, we provide evidence that antigen presentation can be dynamically programmed by a small combination of TFs in human cells. Moreover, it represents a platform for generating autologous DC1, the most attractive DC subset for cancer immunotherapy.