New class of 'dancing' dendritic cells derived from blood monocytes
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 09:32
in Biology & Nature
Dendritic cells, known to be the prime movers of the body's immune response, are still notoriously difficult to study in humans. Samples, which come primarily from bone marrow or lymphoid tissue, are simply too difficult to obtain. But new research at Rockefeller University has shown scientists a way to study "authentic" dendritic cells from mouse monocytes, which are abundant in the blood, a much more accessible source in humans. The discovery, published last week in Cell, promises to accelerate research into therapeutic uses of dendritic cells in people, particularly in vaccine development and cancer treatment; it comes from the lab of Ralph M. Steinman, who first published his discovery of dendritic cells in 1973.