1. ¹Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
2. ²Institute for Cell and Molecular Pathology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Correspondence: Professor C Klein, Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Hannover Medical School, Carl Neuberg Strasse 1, Hannover 30625, Germany. E-mail: klein.christoph@mh-hannover.de

Received 12 October 2005; Revised 20 December 2005; Accepted 2 January 2006; Published online 2 March 2006.

Abstract

Studies of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-derived dendritic cells (DCs) are often limited by the rarity of HSC. To facilitate the study of DCs, we have generated a novel cell line (CR1) by retroviral Notch^IC gene transfer into Sca1⁺ckit⁺lin^- HSC. CR1 cells proliferated in vitro in the presence of recombinant interleukin-3. They maintained an immature progenitor cell phenotype and an intact karyotype. In the presence of granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor or Flt3L, CR1 cells differentiated into myeloid and plasmacytoid DCs, respectively. Functionally, CR1 cells were comparable to primary bone-marrow-derived DCs with respect to Toll-like-receptor-mediated maturation, cytokine release and capacity to induce effective antitumor immunity. CR1 cells thus provide an elegant new cellular tool to study DC development, function and preclinical DC-based immunotherapies.