Inhibition of p38 MAPK in DC progenitor cells endows DCs with superior immunogenicity. Mus musculus

Analysis of the p38 MAPK pathway in regulation of dendritic cells (DCs) differentiation at the gene expression level. Bone marrow cells were cultured with mGM-CSF (20 ng/ml) in the presence of 1.5 mM of SB202190 or 0.1% DMSO. At day 7, semi-adherent cells were collected as immature DCs (iDCs). iDCs were matured by TNF-a (10 ng/ml) and IL-1b (10 ng/ml) for 48 hours. Results showed that p38 MAPK activity in DC progenitor cells acts as an antigen presentation attenuator, and disabling this critical brake during DC differentiation endows DCs with enhanced immunogenicity, which may be useful for the induction of antitumor immune responses. Overall design: Total RNA was obtained from 2-day-cultured bone marrow cells, iDCs and mature DCs.