Comparison of the capacity of mature DC differentiated from SP or DP HPCs to stimulate the MLR.

(A) Immature bulk DCs sorted from day 8 standard condition cultures to which IL-4 was added from day 5, were cultured 3 more days in the presence of CD40LT to obtain mature CD83⁺ DCs, which were then added to allogeneic T lymphocytes for 6 days. (B) CD1a⁺CD14⁻or CD1a⁻CD14⁺ DC precursors sorted on day 5 from either SP or DP HPC cultures were cultured for 5 more days under the standard condition plus IL-4 and with CD40LT for the last 72 hours, before the mature CD83⁺ DCs were added to the MLR. CD1a⁺DC: DCs obtained from CD1a⁺CD14⁻ precursors in SP or DP HPC cultures; CD14⁺DC: DCs obtained from CD1a⁻CD14⁺ precursors in SP or DP HPC cultures. Results are means ± SD of counts per minute (n = 4). Statistical significance of the differences between the MLR-stimulating capacity of the different types of DCs was determined by analysis of covariance.