SEMINAL PLASMA MODULATES THE FUNCTIONAL PROFILE OF DENDRITIC CELLS IMPROVING THEIR ABILITY TO GENERATE CD25+/FOXP3+ T CELLS

A. MERLOTTI; A. CEBALLOS; E. DANTAS; A. VARESE; F. REMES LENICOV; J. RUBIONE; P. PEREYRA GERBER; G. ERNST; J. GEFFNER; J. SABATTÉ

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión anual SAI-SAIC; 2014

Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología

Seminal plasma (SP) plays a major role in reproduction and also in the transmission of a number of infectious diseases. Moreover, it is well known that seminal plasma contains high concentrations of immunomodulatory compounds. We have previously demonstrated that SP was able to modulate the differentiation of monocytes into dendritic cells (DCs) favoring the induction of a tolerogenic profile. Here, we analyzed whether SP was also able to modulate the functional profile of already differentiated DCs. SP was obtained from healthy donors. DCs were obtained from monocytes (% of purity>90) cultured during 5 days with IL-4 + GM-CSF. To analyze a possible modulatory effect mediated by SP, DCs were cultured for 24 h with SP (diluted 1/100) in the absence or presence of LPS (10 ng/ml). We analyzed: a) cell viability (anexinV/ propidium iodide), b) the phenotype of DCs (flow cytometry), c) the production of IL-1, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10 e IL-12p70 (ELISA), and d) DC ability to trigger the expansion of CD25+/FOXP3+ T cells in the mixed lymphocyte culture. We found no differences in the viability of DCs cultured in the absence or presence of SP (% of viability >90). SP did not change the phenotype of CDs cultured either in the absence or presence of LPS. On the contrary, SP significantly inhibited (p<0,05) the production of IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α and IL-12 triggered by LPS:% of inhibition 37.5 ± 13.15, 43.45 ± 2.87, 69.8 ± 17.31, y 81.2 ± 11.07, respectively (n=4-8) without modifying the production of IL-10. Finally, we found that SP improved the ability of DCs to induce the expansion of CD25+/FOXP3+ T cells: LPS vs LPS + SP = 6.0 ± 5.0 vs 20.4 ± 8.3, p<0,05. Our results suggest that, acting on already differentiated DCs, SP induce the acquisition of a tolerogenic profile.