M Sapp

The Rockefeller University, New York City, NY, USA

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Publications (7)41.41 Total impact

  • Source
    Article: Rapid generation of broad T-cell immunity in humans after a single injection of mature dendritic cells.
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    ABSTRACT: Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells that initiate protective T-cell immunity in mice. To study the immunogenicity of DCs in humans, we injected 9 healthy subjects subcutaneously with a control injection of autologous monocyte-derived, mature DCs, followed 4-6 weeks later by DCs pulsed with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), HLA-A*0201-positive restricted influenza matrix peptide (MP), and tetanus toxoid (TT). Four more subjects received these antigens without DCs. Injection of unpulsed DCs, or antigens alone, failed to immunize. Priming of CD4(+) T cells to KLH was observed in all 9 subjects injected with KLH-pulsed DCs, and boosting of TT-specific T-cell immunity was seen in 5 of 6 subjects injected with TT-pulsed DCs. Injection of antigen-pulsed DCs led to a severalfold increase in freshly isolated MP-specific, IFN-gamma-secreting CD8(+) T cells in all 6 HLA-A*0201-positive subjects, as early as 7 days after injection. When T cells were boosted in culture, there was an increase in MHC tetramer-binding cells and cytotoxic T cells after DC vaccination. These data provide the first controlled evidence of the immunogenicity of DCs in humans, and demonstrate that a single injection of mature DCs rapidly expands T-cell immunity.
    Journal of Clinical Investigation 08/1999; 104(2):173-80. · 15.39 Impact Factor
  • Article: Dendritic cells generated from blood monocytes of HIV-1 patients are not infected and act as competent antigen presenting cells eliciting potent T-cell responses.
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    ABSTRACT: The CTL response to HIV-I can be vigorous, but antigen presenting cell requirements have not been studied in detail. To approach this question, we have examined the dendritic cell populations that can be obtained from the blood of HIV-1 infected individuals. We studied 13 asymptomatic patients, who spanned a wide range of plasma viremia and CD4 counts. We show here that sizeable numbers of mature dendritic cells can be generated from nonproliferating progenitors in the blood of HIV + patients using a recently developed approach. The procedure involves two steps. The first step or 'priming' phase is a 7 day culture of T-cell depleted mononuclear cells in medium supplemented with GM-CSF and IL-4. The second step or 'differentiation' phase requires the exposure to monocyte conditioned medium. The yields of DCs from HIV + individuals were comparable to normal blood donors, 0.4 - 3 x 10(6) mature dendritic cells from 50 ml of blood. Strong APC function was evident for both the proliferation of allogeneic T-cells in the MLR, and the generation by syngeneic T-cells of class I restricted, CTL responses to influenza virus. A panel of dendritic cell restricted markers are expressed, including CD83, p55, and perinuclear CD68. By semi-quantitative PCR analysis, the cytokine derived cells did not express HIV-1 DNA. We suggest that these blood derived dendritic cells will be effective for studies of immune responses to HIV-1 antigens and may be considered as adjuvants for active immunotherapy.
    Immunology Letters 04/1999; 66(1-3):121-8. · 2.53 Impact Factor
  • Article: A monocyte conditioned medium is more effective than defined cytokines in mediating the terminal maturation of human dendritic cells.
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    ABSTRACT: Mature human dendritic cells can be generated in substantial numbers from nonproliferating progenitors in human blood using a two-step protocol. T cell-depleted mononuclear cells are first cultured with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4 (IL-4) and then exposed to monocyte conditioned medium (MCM). The dendritic cells generated using this approach are rendered terminally mature and are the most potent antigen presenting cells identified to date in humans. We sought to characterize factors in MCM that induce the terminal differentiation of dendritic cells. MCM contained substantial, although varying, quantities of several factors including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, and interferon-alpha. However, none of the four factors, individually or in various combinations, could fully substitute for the MCM to generate irreversibly differentiated dendritic cells. The yields, percentage of cells expressing the mature phase marker CD83, and mixed leukocyte reaction-stimulatory function were lower when defined cytokines were used in the place of MCM. Therefore, the full maturation of dendritic cells, because it entails changes in many known cell and molecular properties, requires a number of different cytokines that are released in tandem from appropriately stimulated monocytes. We propose that MCM-matured dendritic cells will be the most effective adjuvants for immunotherapy in vivo.
    Blood 12/1997; 90(9):3640-6. · 9.90 Impact Factor
  • Article: Dendritic cells as immunogens for human CTL responses.
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    ABSTRACT: The cellular requirements for generating potent human CD8+ CTLs to influenza A virus in vitro have been defined. Furthermore, we have developed improved methods for generating large numbers of DCs from non-proliferating progenitors. These developments have enabled the design of new strategies to elicit CTLs in vivo. For example, together with IL-12, antigen-pulsed DCs may be a useful approach for boosting CTL responses against infectious agents and malignancies. Our results also reopen the potential use of inactivated virus preparations as immunogens for CTL responses.
    Advances in experimental medicine and biology 02/1997; 417:383-7. · 1.09 Impact Factor
  • Article: Improved methods for the generation of dendritic cells from nonproliferating progenitors in human blood.
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    ABSTRACT: We have investigated an improved method for generating sizable numbers of mature dendritic cells from nonproliferating progenitors in human blood. The procedure uses 1% human plasma in the place of 10% fetal calf serum and involves two steps. The first step or 'priming' phase is a 6-7 day culture of T cell depleted mononuclear cells in medium supplemented with GM-CSF and IL-4. The second step or 'differentiation' phase requires the exposure to macrophage conditioned medium. This medium cannot be replaced by several known cytokines such as TNF-alpha, IL-1, IL-6, IL-12 and IL-15, and cannot be inhibited with neutralizing antibodies to IL-1, TNF-alpha, IL-6 or IL-12 alone, or in combination. Using this two-step approach, we obtain substantial yields. About 1-3 x 10(6) mature dendritic cells are generated from 40 ml of blood vs. < 0.1 x 10(6) from noncytokine treated blood. The dendritic cells derive from progenitors found primarily in a radioresistant population of CD14+ and adherent blood mononuclear cells and have all the features of mature cells. They include a stellate cell shape, nonadherence to plastic, and very strong T cell stimulatory activity. Strong APC function was evident for both the proliferation of allogeneic T cells in the MLR, and the generation by syngeneic T cells of class I restricted, CTL responses to influenza virus. A panel of dendritic cell restricted markers is also expressed, including CD83, p55, and perinuclear CD68. All of these dendritic cell properties are retained for at least 3 days when the cytokines are removed, suggesting that these populations are stable and terminally differentiated. We suggest that these cells will be effective in vivo as adjuvants for active immunotherapy.
    Journal of Immunological Methods 09/1996; 196(2):121-35. · 2.20 Impact Factor
  • Source
    Article: Purification and mechanism of action of a nucleosome assembly factor from Xenopus oocytes.
    M Sapp, A Worcel
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    ABSTRACT: Chromatin with nucleosomes spaced at 180-base pair intervals can be formed in vitro on circular DNA molecules using a Xenopus oocyte S-150 extract, but the ability to form a periodic chromatin structure is lost upon fractionation of this extract. To identify factors other than the known ones involved in chromatin assembly, we have first depleted the extract by incubating it in batch with charged resins, and we have subsequently reconstituted it with purified fractions. Studies performed with the fractionated components indicate that formation of periodically spaced nucleosomes on the relaxed, closed circular DNA proceeds in two steps and does not require DNA topoisomerases. In a first step, histones H3/H4 are transferred from the endogenous H3/H4-N1 complex to the DNA, forming a nascent chromatin structure. This structure can then be rapidly complemented in a subsequent and independent step with a stoichiometric amount of histone H2A/H2B dimers. Under these experimental conditions, excess histone H2A/H2B dimers inhibit DNA supercoiling and nucleosome formation. We describe the purification of a factor from the Xenopus oocyte S-150 which permits DNA supercoiling and nucleosome formation under conditions of excess histone H2A/H2B. The activity purifies as a complex of five nonacidic polypeptides with apparent molecular masses ranging between 56 and 62 kDa. This factor prevents the binding of excess histone H2A/H2B to the DNA, and it can also remove excess histone H2A/H2B already bound to the DNA, thus ensuring that stoichiometric amounts of all four nucleosomal histones associate with the DNA.
    Journal of Biological Chemistry 07/1990; 265(16):9357-65. · 4.77 Impact Factor
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    Article: Histone H1 represses transcription from minichromosomes assembled in vitro.
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    ABSTRACT: We have previously shown that transcription from a Xenopus 5S rRNA gene assembled into chromatin in vitro can be repressed in the absence of histone H1 at high nucleosome densities (one nucleosome per 160 base pairs of DNA) (A. Shimamura, D. Tremethick, and A. Worcel, Mol. Cell. Biol. 8:4257-4269, 1988). We report here that transcriptional repression may also be achieved at lower nucleosome densities (one nucleosome per 215 base pairs of DNA) when histone H1 is present. Removal of histone H1 from the minichromosomes with Biorex under conditions in which no nucleosome disruption was observed led to transcriptional activation. Transcriptional repression could be restored by adding histone H1 back to the H1-depleted minichromosomes. The levels of histone H1 that repressed the H1-depleted minichromosomes failed to repress transcription from free DNA templates present in trans. The assembly of transcription complexes onto the H1-depleted minichromosomes protected the 5S RNA gene from inactivation by histone H1.
    Molecular and Cellular Biology 01/1990; 9(12):5573-84. · 5.53 Impact Factor