Download The mononuclear phagocyte cell system includes monocytes

Abstract
The mononuclear phagocyte cell system includes monocytes, macrophages and
dendritic cells which are important cells in order to recognize, ingest, destroy and
also present part of a pathogen to T-lymphocytes in order to activate the adaptive
immune system. Dendritic cells (DCs) stand out in their ability to stimulate Tlymphocytes and are also believed to be important to keep tolerance for “selfantigens”.
Therefore DCs are of interest for use in immunotherapy studies. However in most
such studies to date, DC-like cells have been used, so called monocyte derived
dendritic cells (moDCs).
The aim of this thesis was to investigate the early events following in vitro
activation of highly purified human DCs. In the first study we observed that the
production of IL-8 and down regulation of CD128b preceded surface expression
of MHC class II and CD40, 80 and 86. We have in the following studies used and
demonstrated the practical use of zeolite particles as ligand carriers with the
purpose to study the uptake mechanisms deployed by phagocytes. We show the
advantage of using zeolite particles, due to their ability to bind various types of
ligands i.e. proteins, oligonucleotides, lipophilic, and hydrophobic molecules. In
addition, we have adsorbed bio molecules in sequential steps, which
demonstrates the potential of co adsorbing ligands e.g. for targeting a specific
endosomal compartment together with molecules sensing the endosomal
microenvironment.
Coating zeolite particles with different biomolecules might provide further
understanding of mechanisms involved in antigen sorting into endocytic
compartments.