Resumen de Rosiglitazone promotes the differentiation of Langerhans cells and inhibits that of other dendritic cell types from CD133 positive hematopoietic precursors
Maria Ida Bonetti, Stefano Bacci, Michela Santosuosso, Benedetta Mazzanti, Alessandra Aldinucci, Clara Ballerini, Daniele Guasti, Laura Calosi, Alberto Bosi, Paolo Romagnoli
Dendritic cells and their precursors express PPAR-gamma, whose stimulation has inhibitory effects on the maturation and function of dendritic cells in vivo. Dendritic cells can differentiate in vitro from CD133+ progenitors; the influence of PPAR-gamma stimulation on this process is unknown. We have addressed the effect of PPAR-gamma agonist rosiglitazone, at a concentration as used in clinics, on the differentiation of dendritic cells from human CD133+ progenitors. Cells were harvested from cord blood by density gradient and immunomagnetic separation, and cultured for 18 days with fetal calf serum, cytokines and 1 µmol/L rosiglitazone. Analyses included flow cytometry, electron microscopy and mixed lymphocyte reaction. As expected, control cells generated without rosiglitazone were dendritic, expressed MHC-II, CD80, CD83 and CD86 and stimulated mixed reaction potently. A minority of cells expressed the Langerhans cell marker CD207/langerin, but none contained Birbeck granules. With rosiglitazone much fewer cells were generated; they were all dendritic, expressed differentiation and maturation-related antigens in higher percentage and were better stimulators of lymphocytes than those generated without the drug. The vast majority of cells expressed CD207/langerin and many contained Birbeck granules, i.e. were full-fledged Langerhans cells. We conclude that stimulation of PPAR-gamma, while negatively affecting the number of generated cells, promotes the maturation of human cord blood CD133 positive precursors into efficient, immunostimulating dendritic cells with a Langerhans cell phenotype.
