Figure 2

Dendritic cell-like phenotype of THP-1 induced by GL-PS and GM-CSF/IL-4. (A) Microscopic morphology of normal mature monocyte-derived DCs (Mo-mDCs) and THP-1 DCs (upper panel). The round THP-1 cells changed to be adherent flatten cells (white arrows). Under forward scatter and side scatter analysis of flow cytometer (lower panel), the THP-1 DCs increased in size when compared with THP-1 cells alone. (B) Surface expression of antigen presentation and costimulation molecules on immature Mo-DCs (Mo-iDCs), THP-1 cells alone, THP-1 stimulated with GM-CSF/IL-4; GL-PS treated THP-1, THP-1 stimulated with both GL-PS and GM-CSF/IL-4. The expressions of DC maturation markers CD11c, HLA-DR, CD40, CD80 and CD86 on DCs were analyzed by flow cytometer after five-day differentiation. The results shown were from one representative experiment of triplicate independent experiments performed. (C) The average relative expression of the DC maturation markers. The results were presented as mean ± SD of three representative experiments. *p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001 versus that of THP-1 cells.