Establishment of a dendritic cell differentiation system faithfully recapitulating multiple DC subsets in autoimmune disease.

OBJECTIVE

Human dendritic cell (DC) subsets are pivotal in autoimmune disease, but their extreme rarity in patient tissues limits study. We aimed to build a physiologically relevant in vitro platform that reconstructs all major human DC subpopulations in an IFN-rich autoimmune-like microenvironment and to define how IFN signaling shapes DC lineage commitment and functional specialization.

METHODS

CD34⁺ hematopoietic progenitor cells from umbilical cord blood were differentiated in a feeder-free culture with type I and type II IFNs. DC phenotypes were profiled by multicolor flow cytometry; functions were tested by innate stimulation and T cell-activation cocultures. Single-cell RNA-seq (3 timepoints during differentiation) with trajectory inference reconstructed differentiation hierarchies, and in vitro transcriptional profiles were compared with lupus patient scRNA-seq datasets.

RESULTS

The IFN-enriched system generated cDC1s, cDC2s, pDCs, ASDCs, mregDCs, and DC3-like populations, each showing lineage-specific surface markers, canonical innate immune sensing programs, and distinct T cell-stimulatory capacities. scRNA-seq demonstrated high similarity to disease-associated DC populations in autoimmune samples. Trajectory analyses mapped progenitor-to-mature DC progression and revealed a pDC bifurcation toward canonical pDCs or ASDC-like states. Notably, IFN exposure selectively promoted inflammatory DC programs marked by elevated interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) and functional polarization toward ASDC-related phenotypes.

CONCLUSION

IFN signaling is a key determinant of DC diversification and functional specialization, and this platform enables genetic screening and mechanistic interrogation of human DC biology in autoimmune pathogenesis.