Surviving DCs generated in the presence of IFN-α plus LPS have a mature phenotype.

Monocyte-derived DCs were generated with GM-CSF plus IL-4 in the absence (control cultures, dotted lines, A) or presence of IFN-α plus LPS (bold lines, A-B). During the last 3 days, a part of both cultures was subjected to a maturation step employing 100 ng/mL LPS (control cultures, thin line, A) or CD40L plus IFN-γ (cultures containing IFN-α plus LPS, thin line, B). Cells were stained on day 8 of total culture for the presence of CD83, CD80, and CD86; only large viable cells were analyzed.