The function of human monocyte-derived DCs (either tolerogenic or immunogenic) is most frequently studied by various in vitro assays (e.g. MLR, Treg suppression assay, CTL induction, etc.)
Does anybody have experience or knowledge regarding the assessment of human DCs in vivo in animal models, for example, after adoptive transfer of human DCs into mice and subsequent analysis of immune response in various ways (FoxP3 Treg induction in spleen etc.)?
Many thanks!
If I understand your question correctly you would want to transfer monocyte-derived DCs and naive (CD44-CD62L+) T cells (both CD4 and CD8) from a matched donor into an immunodeficient mouse. Most immunodeficient mouse models still have murine myeloid cells, but since the MHC haplotype is mismatched the human T cells should not be induced by murine antigen-presenting cells although various murine cytokines may share enough homology to influence your results. You could then assess CD4 T cell polarization and/or proliferation (e.g., FoxP3 expression) and CD8 T cell induction, cytotoxicity and/or proliferation as functional readouts for the DC contribution.
An inverse of this experiment would be to transfer ex vivo activated T cells into an immunodeficient mouse that was already seeded with your DCs and compare gain or loss of function in those T cells.
Finally, you could administered some "bait" locally (e.g., fluorescent dextran beads) and evaluate phagocytosis by DCs.
You might also consider using less functional readouts, such as maturation (CD40, MHCII), stimulatory capacity (CD80, CD86), trafficking, suppressive capacity (Arginase, IL-10, etc) if you are able to recover DCs in sufficient number after implantation.
Hope this helps
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