Capability of PBDCs and Mo-DCs from the same MM patients and of PBDCs from healthy subjects to present soluble antigens to autologous T cells.
CD3+ cells (1 × 105) were incubated with either a fixed number (3000) of DCs (A) or increasing numbers of DCs (B). Co-incubation was performed in the presence or absence of TT, KLH, and allogeneic Id (A) or of autologous, patient-specific Id (B). Results report the mean ± SD of 10 different experiments for MM patients and of 6 experiments for healthy subjects. Autologous DCs alone (negative control) gave 2800 ± 500 cpm when 12 500 cells were tested. Statistical analysis showed that PBDCs from MM patients were less efficient than Mo-DCs in stimulating autologous T lymphocytes in response to KLH, TT, and allogeneic Id (P < .01) and less efficient than PBDCs from healthy subjects in presenting allogeneic Id (P < .05). When autologous, patient-specific Id was tested, we did not observe any proliferative response of T cells co-incubated with PBDCs (B). By contrast, Mo-DCs were strong stimulators of T-cell proliferation (P < .01). *P < .05.
