Ascorbic acid supports ex vivo generation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells from circulating hematopoietic stem cells

Abstract
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Abstract

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) constitute a rare type of immune cell with multifaceted functions, but their potential use as a cell-based immunotherapy is challenged by the scarce cell numbers that can be extracted from blood. Here, we systematically investigate culture parameters for generating pDCs from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Using optimized conditions combined with implementation of HSPC pre-expansion, we generate an average of 465 million HSPC-derived pDCs (HSPC-pDCs) starting from 100,000 cord blood-derived HSPCs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that such protocol allows HSPC-pDC generation from whole blood HSPCs, and these cells display a pDC phenotype and function. Using GMP compliant medium, we observe a remarkable loss of TLR7/9 responses, which is rescued by ascorbic acid supplementation. Ascorbic acid induces transcriptional signatures associated with pDC-specific innate immune pathways suggesting an undescribed role of ascorbic acid for pDC functionality. This constitutes the first protocol for generating pDCs from whole blood, and lay the foundation for investigating HSPC-pDCs for cell-based immunotherapy.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Sequencing data have been deposited in Dryad (doi:10.5061/dryad.69p8cz92z).

The following data sets were generated

1. Laustsen A et al
(2021) Data From: Ascorbic acid supports ex vivo generation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells from circulating hematopoietic stem cells
doi:10.5061/dryad.69p8cz92z.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.69p8cz92z

Article and author information

Author details

Anders Laustsen

Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Competing interests
Anders Laustsen, Aarhus University has filed a patent related to this work with AL, MRJ, and ROB as co-inventors. AL, MRJ and ROB hold equity in the Danish company UNIKUM Therapeutics ApS. Part-time employees of UNIKUM Therapeutics ApS..
Renée M van der Sluis

Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus C., Denmark

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Albert Gris-Oliver

Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1802-9541
Sabina Sánchez Hernández

Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Ena Cemalovic

Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Hai Q Tang

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N., Denmark

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Lars Henning Pedersen

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N., Denmark

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Niels Uldbjerg

Department of Clinical Medicine, niels uldbjerg, Aarhus V, Denmark

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-6449-6426
Martin R Jakobsen

Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

For correspondence
mrj@biomed.au.dk

Competing interests
Martin R Jakobsen, Aarhus University has filed a patent related to this work with AL, MRJ, and ROB as co-inventors. AL, MRJ and ROB hold equity in the Danish company UNIKUM Therapeutics ApS. Serves on the board of directors of UNIKUM Therapeutics ApS..
Rasmus O Bak

Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus C., Denmark

For correspondence
bak@biomed.au.dk

Competing interests
Rasmus O Bak, Aarhus University has filed a patent related to this work with AL, MRJ, and ROB as co-inventors. AL, MRJ and ROB hold equity in the Danish company UNIKUM Therapeutics ApS. Part-time employees of UNIKUM Therapeutics ApS. Holds equity in Graphite Bio..

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7383-0297

Funding

Lundbeckfonden (R238-2016-3349)

Rasmus O Bak

Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus Universitet

Renée M van der Sluis
Rasmus O Bak

European Union (609033)

Rasmus O Bak

Lundbeckfonden (R238-2016-2708)

Martin R Jakobsen

Independent Research Fund Denmark (8020-00201B)

Martin R Jakobsen

Novo Nordisk Fonden (NNF18OC0053146)

Martin R Jakobsen

European Union (754513)

Renée M van der Sluis

Carlsbergfondet (CF17-0129)

Rasmus O Bak

Carlsbergfondet (CF20-0424)

Rasmus O Bak

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Human subjects: De-identified umbilical cord blood (UCB) samples were obtained following scheduled caesarean section deliveries of healthy infants at Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Skejby University Hospital. Consent was obtained from the mothers, but studies on anonymized samples, such as those used in the present study, are exempt from ethical permissions in Denmark (Kommiteeloven {section sign} {section sign}14. 3).Buffy coat samples were obtained from normal healthy donors from Aarhus University Hospital Blood Bank. These were de-identified samples and studies on anonymized samples are exempt from ethical permissions in Denmark (Kommiteeloven {section sign} {section sign}14. 3).

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.