Dendritic Cells Conditionally Transformed by v-relER Oncogene Express Lymphoid Marker Genes

The initiation of primary immune responses is the key function of specialized antigen presenting cells, the dendritic cells (DC)DC of myeloid origin capture antigens in tissues, migrate to lymphoid organs and stimulate T cell responsesA subset of DC has been described which expresses lymphoid determinants and has potential regulatory functionsConditional transformation of chicken bone marrow progenitors with v-relER, a v-rel estrogen receptor (ER) fusion gene, allows expansion of progenitors that can be induced to differentiate into DC in vitroIn this paper we describe that v-relER cells exhibit both myeloid and lymphoid surface markers, while B cell, T cell and NK (natural killer)-specific surface markers are absentv-relER DC express, however, cytoplasmic CD3 protein and mRNA for CD8α and the lymphoid transcription factor GATA-3These data suggest that v-relER DC might be related to the lymphoid subset of DC described in mammals.