Blood, Vol. 95 No. 3 (February 1), 2000:
pp. 879-885
PU.1 is required for myeloid-derived but not lymphoid-derived
dendritic cells
Anastasia Guerriero,
Peter B. Langmuir,
Lisa M. Spain, and
Edward W. Scott
From the Institute for Human Gene Therapy, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, and the Wistar Institute, Philadelphia,
PA.
The ets-family transcription factor PU.1 is
required for the proper development of both myeloid and lymphoid
progenitors. We used PU.1-deficient animals to examine the role of PU.1
during dendritic cell development. PU.1
/animals
produce lymphoid-derived dendritic cells (DC): low-density class II major histocompatibility complex
[MHC-II+] CD11c+ CD8
+
DEC-205+. But they lack myeloid-derived DC: low-density
MHC-II+ CD11c+ CD8
DEC-205. PU.1/ embryos also lack
progenitors capable of differentiating into myeloid DC in response to
granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor plus interleukin-4.
The appearance of lymphoid DC in developing PU.1/thymus was initially delayed, but this
population recovered to wild type (WT) levels upon organ culture of
isolated thymic lobes. PU.1/lymphoid DC were
functionally equivalent to WT DC for stimulating T-cell proliferation
in mixed lymphocyte reactions. These results demonstrate that
PU.1 is required for the development of myeloid DC but not lymphoid DC.
