Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jun 16;42(6):1197-211.
doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2015.05.018.

GM-CSF Mouse Bone Marrow Cultures Comprise a Heterogeneous Population of CD11c(+)MHCII(+) Macrophages and Dendritic Cells

Julie Helft  1 , Jan Böttcher  1 , Probir Chakravarty  2 , Santiago Zelenay  1 , Jatta Huotari  1 , Barbara U Schraml  1 , Delphine Goubau  1 , Caetano Reis e Sousa  3
Affiliations
Free article

GM-CSF Mouse Bone Marrow Cultures Comprise a Heterogeneous Population of CD11c(+)MHCII(+) Macrophages and Dendritic Cells

Julie Helft et al. Immunity. .
Free article

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key players in the immune system. Much of their biology has been elucidated via culture systems in which hematopoietic precursors differentiate into DCs under the aegis of cytokines. A widely used protocol involves the culture of murine bone marrow (BM) cells with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) to generate BM-derived DCs (BMDCs). BMDCs express CD11c and MHC class II (MHCII) molecules and share with DCs isolated from tissues the ability to present exogenous antigens to T cells and to respond to microbial stimuli by undergoing maturation. We demonstrate that CD11c(+)MHCII(+) BMDCs are in fact a heterogeneous group of cells that comprises conventional DCs and monocyte-derived macrophages. DCs and macrophages in GM-CSF cultures both undergo maturation upon stimulation with lipopolysaccharide but respond differentially to the stimulus and remain separable entities. These results have important implications for the interpretation of a vast array of data obtained with DC culture systems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

Substances

Associated data