The DC activation marker CD83 binds to a CD4+ subpopulation of PBMC – options for immune therapy

Dendritic cells (DC) have been used in clinical trials for immune therapy of various malignancies. However, activation strategies for DC to date have been insufficient to mount a curative T cell response. We started to investigate the stimulatory DC maturation marker CD83, whose ligand is unknown. We cloned the extracellular domain of CD83 and expressed it in eukaryotic cells to obtain a physiologically glycosylated recombinant protein. As the affinity was too low for flow cytometric analyses, we designed a tetrameric CD83 complex and identified a CD4+ population of PBMC. Currently, we are optimising the express…