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Imatinib mesylate does not impair the immunogenicity of human myeloid blood dendritic cells

Leukemia volume 20, pages 1629–1632 (2006)Cite this article

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is characterized by the presence of a BCR-ABL fusion gene, which is the result of a reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22. The BCR-ABL gene product exhibits constitutive tyrosine kinase activity, which plays a critical role in BCR-ABL-induced transformation. Imatinib mesylate represents a potent inhibitor of BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase activity and demonstrated high efficacy in inducing cytogenetic remissions in CML patients.1

Recent in vitro studies have investigated the impact of imatinib on phenotype and function of human dendritic cells (DCs), which play an important role for the induction of innate and adaptive antitumor immunity. Thus, it has been shown that CML-derived DCs display an improved ability of antigen presentation in the presence of imatinib.2 Further data revealed that imatinib does neither inhibit the immunophenotypic profile and migration of CML-derived DCs nor their ability to stimulate T-cell proliferation (below 2.5 μ M imatinib).3 More recently, it has been reported that exposure to imatinib only minimally affects the differentiation of bcr-abl+ and normal monocytes into DCs and does not impair the DC-mediated polarization of naive CD4+ T cells.4 In contrast, Appel et al.5, 6 demonstrated that imatinib efficiently inhibits the differentiation of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors and monocytes into DCs and their ability to induce cytotoxic T-cell responses. Whereas all these reports are based on DCs that are generated after several days in the presence of various cytokines studies investigating the impact of imatinib on native human blood DCs are very limited.

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Acknowledgements

The technical assistance of Karin Günther and Bärbel Löbel is greatly appreciated. This work was supported by grants from the German Ministry of Education and Science as well as the Medical Faculty, Technical University of Dresden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Immunology, Medical Faculty, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    R Wehner, M Wendisch, K Schäkel, A Temme, M Bachmann, E P Rieber & M Schmitz

  2. Department of Medicine I, Medical Faculty, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    M Bornhäuser, U Platzbecker & B Mohr

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Wehner, R., Wendisch, M., Schäkel, K. et al. Imatinib mesylate does not impair the immunogenicity of human myeloid blood dendritic cells. Leukemia 20, 1629–1632 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404315

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