Murine hybrid cell lines expressing the NLDC-145 dendritic cell determinant.

Dendritic cells play an important role as accessory cells in the immunological defense system. Investigations into the biological functions of this population have been limited by the difficulties encountered in isolating sufficient numbers of cells, and therefore different approaches have been described to immortalize accessory cell populations. In this report, four murine hybrid cell lines (H1-H4) are described that were produced by fusion of in vitro isolated dendritic cells and a tumor cell. The hybrid lines are characterized by the expression of the dendritic cell specific marker NLDC-145, Ia expression and the absence of macrophage or T cell markers. The cell lines have no phagocytic activity and are functionally active as accessory cells. The expression of the NLDC-145 antigen in vitro was found to be inducible. These NLDC-145-positive cell lines will be useful for the further characterization of the NLDC-145 antigen and in the study of dendritic cell and lymphocyte interactions.