Culture System Allowing the Simultaneous Differentiation of Human Monocytes into Dendritic Cells and Macrophages Using M-CSF, IL-4, and TNF-α.

Monocytes circulate in the blood and infiltrate tissues where they differentiate into either macrophages or dendritic cells, in particular during inflammation. In vivo, monocytes are exposed to various signals that modulate their commitment toward macrophage or dendritic cell fate. Classical culture systems for human monocyte differentiation yield either macrophages or dendritic cells, but not both populations in the same culture. In addition, monocyte-derived dendritic cells obtained with such methods do not closely mimic dendritic cells that are present in clinical samples. Here, we describe a protocol to simultaneously differentiate human monocytes into macrophages and dendritic cells that resemble their in vivo counterparts from inflammatory fluids.