Dendritic cells and the uses thereof in screening cellular targets and potential drugs

Abstract

The present invention is based on the discovery that in response to different stimuli, dendritic cells initiate various immune responses by producing different transcription profiles, e.g., IL-2 production by dendritic cells in response to a microbial stimulus. The present invention provides methods of making libraries of gene expression profiles and libraries made thereof corresponding to dendritic cell maturation in response to a microbial stimulation. The present invention provides methods for activating lymphocytes or immune responses and methods for producing Il-2 in dendritic cells or preparing dendritic cells for cell-based therapy. The present invention also provides methods and systems for screening agents affecting dendritic cell maturation. In addition, it is the discovery of the present invention that dendritic cells are targets for immunosuppressive virus infections. Accordingly, the present invention provides methods for treating immunosuppressive virus infections or immunosuppression associated with immunosuppressive virus infection. The present invention also provides methods for screening candidate therapeutic agents suitable for treating immunosuppressive virus infection using dendritic cell system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.