No abstract

No abstract

We have defined optimal conditions to generate and transduce murine BM-derived DCs. This included: the use of protamine sulfate during exposure to retroviral infectious supernatant and the addition of IL-4 at an early stage of the culture. Nevertheless, this cytokine also induced DC maturation. These findings have potential implications in experimental gene therapy.

A cellular model of hematopoiesis which would be more convenient than bone marrow (BM) progenitors and directly relevant to human pathology is needed in order to investigate xenobiotic toxicity. Human umbilical cord blood (HCB), previously shown to be able to repopulate BM, provides a powerful in vitro model of normal human hematopoiesis. In order to validate the use of normal HCB progenitors as targets for dose-related myelosuppression, we used clonogenic assays and expansion in a liquid culture of progenitor-enriched cell suspensions from HCB. A series of 8 reference molecules, doxorubicin, cytosine-arabinoside, 5-fluorouracil, 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine, acetylsalicylic acid, sodium valproate and two cephalosporin antibiotics, were tested. In vitro 50% inhibition concentrations (IC50) were compared to those observed or reported with BM progenitors, and to the values of plasma concentrations from treated patients. HCB progenitors as in vitro targets for cytotoxic molecules were easy to access and handle, and their use was sensitive, specific and reproducible. They gave results similar to BM progenitors and allowed a qualitative approach to cellular metabolism and toxicity using morphological, flow cytometric and chromatographic methods.