2) of 6–10 weeks of age were used as the source of BM for in vitr

2) of 6–10 weeks of age were used as the source of BM for in vitro cultures.

GMKO mice [43], GM-CSF receptor βcKO mice [44] on C56BL/6 background, and GM-CSF transgenic mice on SJL × C57BL/6 mixed background [45] were generated, and maintained in the selleckchem animal facility of The Walter & Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) Animal Facility. All mouse procedures were approved by the WEHI animal ethics committee. Cultures were setup as previously described [4, 12, 46]. Briefly, BM cells were extracted, and erythrocytes were removed by exposure to 0.168 M NH4Cl. Cells were cultured at a density of 1.5 × 106–3.0 × 106 cells per mL in RPMI 1640 medium with 10% (v/v) fetal bovine serum containing either recombinant mouse Flt3L (made in-house), recombinant GM-CSF (R&D systems), or both at 37°C in 10% CO2. DCs induced by Flt3L, GM-CSF, or both are termed FL-DCs, GM-DCs,

or GMFL-DCs, respectively. OT-I T cells (H-2Kb-restricted anti-OVA257–264) and OT-II T cells (I-Ab-restricted anti-OVA323–339) were purified from pooled lymph nodes (inguinal, axillary, brachial, cervical, and mesenteric) by Ab depletion of non-T cells (non-CD8 T cells for purification of OT-I T cells and non-CD4 T cells for purification of OT-II T cells). T cells were then dye labeled by incubating them for 10 min at 37°C in FCS free PBS containing 0.1% BSA and 2.5 mM CFSE. The T-cell preparations were routinely >80% pure, as determined by flow cytometry. The capacity of the FL-DCs, GM-DCs, or GMFL-DCs to generate buy C59 an antigen-specific T-cell Bcl-2 inhibitor stimulatory response was evaluated using isolated OT-1 and OT-II T cells. FL-DCs, GM-DCs, or GMFL-DCs were plated at 104 cells per well in U-bottom 96-well plates and pulsed for 45 min at 37°C at the indicated concentration of OVA. Cells were washed and resuspended with 5 × 104 CFSE-labeled OT-I/OT-II cells. Proliferation of the T cells was determined after 60 h of culture as described

above. To quantify proliferation, the T cells were stained with anti-CD4 or -CD8 (for OT-II and OT-I, respectively) and anti-TCRVα2 antibodies, and resuspended in 100 μL of balanced-salt solution and 2% FCS-containing 2.5 × 104 blank calibration particles (BD Biosciences Pharmingen). Samples were analyzed by flow cytometry on a FACScallibur (Beckton Dickinson) and the total number of live dividing lymphocytes (propidium iodide-negative, CFSElo) was calculated from the number of dividing cells per 5 × 103 beads. Each determination was done in duplicate. Samples were then analyzed using Flowjo Software (Tree Star Inc). As previously described [22], BM cells were suspended in nycodenz medium (1.086 g/cm3) and cells of lighter density were isolated by centrifugation. The cells of lighter density were then coated with biotinylated monoclonal antibodies to the following lineage markers: CD3 (KT3–1.1), CD19 (ID3), CD45R (B220, RA36B2), CD11b (M1/70), CD11c (N418), Ly6G (IA8), Ly6C.2 (5075–3.6), NK1.1 (PK136), CD127 (IL-7R; A7R34–2.2), and Ter119.

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