Submitted May 16, 2006
Accepted August 30, 2006
Production of interferons by dendritic cells, plasmacytoid
cells, natural killer cells and interferon-producing killer dendritic cells
David Vremec, Meredith O'Keeffe, Hubertus Hochrein, Martina Fuchsberger, Irina Caminschi, Mireille Lahoud, and Ken Shortman*
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia
Bavarian Nordic GmbH, Munich, Germany
* Corresponding author; email: shortman{at}wehi.edu.au.
The capacity of mouse spleen conventional dendritic cells (cDC) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) to produce interferon (IFN)-
or IFN-
was assessed, and compared to that of natural killer (NK) cells and the recently identified interferon-producing killer dendritic cells (IKDC), both of which are frequent contaminants in DC preparations. Fully developed cDC or pDC, if free of NK cells or IKDC, showed little capacity for IFN- production. However an early developmental form of the CD4-8+ cDC subtype, and the Ly6C- Ly49Q- pDC subtype, both were able to produce moderate amounts of IFN-, although less than IKDC. In response to toll-like receptor 9 stimuli both the Ly6C+ Ly49Q+ and the Ly6C- Ly49Q- pDC subtypes were effective producers of IFN-. However IKDC, which efficiently produced IFN- and showed immediate cytotoxicity on NK target cells, did not produce IFN- under these conditions.
