Induced CD103+ Dendritic Cells

Multiple subsets of FLT3L-dependent dendritic cells (DCs) control T cell tolerance and immunity. In mouse tissues, CD8α-like DCs are identified by CD103 expression. This DC subset efficiently enters lymph nodes and cross-presents antigens, rendering CD103+ DCs promising targets for therapeutic tolerance induction or vaccination. However, only limited numbers of CD103+ DCs can be isolated with current methods. Moreover, bone marrow cultures with FLT3L produce complex mixtures of DC subsets. We developed a novel method for generating large numbers of Batf3-dependent CD103+ DCs. We used microarray analysis to compare in vitro generated CD103+ and CD103- DCs and correlated their expression patterns to published profiles and signatures of DC subsets. We generated iCD103 DCs according to our new method. We sorted CD11c+B220-CD103hi and CD11c+B220-CD103- DC subsets and processed these populations for RNA extraction and hybridization to Agilent microarrays.