In Vitro Maturation of Dendritic Cells from Blood Progenitors

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent antigen-presenting cells (APCs) because of their ability to elicit strong proliferative response to alloantigens and to recall antigens. Most importantly, DCs have the unique ability to initiate the immune response by capturing antigens in peripheral tissues and migrating to secondary lymphoid organs, where they sensitize naive CD4+T cells to the antigen. DC migration is concomitant with maturation, during which the DCs lose their ability to acquire and process antigens (1 ,2 ).