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Abstract
Objective: Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen presenting cells majorly modulated by various environmental factors. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine from interleukin-6 family. Previous studies demonstrate that LIF is associated with several tolerogenic events; yet the exact effect of this cytokine on the generation and function of DCs was not explicitly identified.
Materials and methods: To clarify the role of LIF in DCs development, immature DCs were differentiated from mouse bone marrow (BM) in a GM-CSF and IL-4 containing medium with or without LIF. Afterwards, in maturation process, the differentiated DCs were exposed to TNF-α in the presence or absence of LIF.
Results: Immature DCs differentiated in the presence of LIF, proved a significant enhancement in the expression of MHCII, CD40, or CD86 molecules and in the antigen uptake function. LIF treatment of normal DCs while stimulating for maturation, caused a significant decrement in the expression of phenotypic markers as well as an increment in the antigen uptake function in comparison with TNF-α-only stimulated cells; however, the reduced ability for induction of allogenic T-cell proliferation proved no statistical significance.
Conclusions: Our results can reflect a role for LIF in the generation and particularly maturation of DCs. It can be assumed that LIF rather modulates the maturation level, leading to the development of semi-mature and tolerogenic DCs. According to the high levels of LIF in immune-privileged sites like brain and uterine, it seems that the cytokine may account for the formation of local DCs that help the establishment of immunosuppressive environments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was declared by the authors.